Tricked
by aslmeixtih13
Summary: What if Bella had waited at the airport for Edward instead of meeting James at the ballet studio...?
1. Chapter 1

The three of us, Alice, Jasper and I had been waiting in the airport for about an hour now. I felt bad for Jasper, having to be so close to so many humans, but then I reminded myself that he'd volunteered to come. He was also the only reason I was at all sane right now. Not only was my mom in danger, but I was also apart from Edward and it was very nearly killing me to be in this situation.

My mind kept replaying the phone conversation I had had with James back at the hotel when Alice and Jasper were checking out and I was very, very seriously thinking about finding a way to ditch Alice and Jasper; the airport here in Phoenix was enormous and I had a slight advantage in that I had been here a few times before; I knew a couple palpable ways for me to escape. The hardest part would be to get out without having Alice 'see' me decide to go, but if I could manage that, I could almost relax knowing that Alice and Jasper would be scouring the airport for at least five minutes, giving me a chance to get into a taxi and get to the ballet studio as fast as I possibly could. It was definitely a long-shot.

"Bella," Alice warned, "I know what you're going to do, so don't even think about it."

I whipped my head around to face where she was seated, behind me now, due to my relentless pacing, "Alice, James…he called me before we left the hotel. He has my mom!" at this point, I was frantic. I needed to see Edward and make sure he was alright – despite Alice's reassurances, but I also needed to get to my mom before it was too late. Of course, I wasn't one hundred percent positive James even had my mom; I believed him because, quite frankly, I was terrified.

"It's going to be fine, Bella," Alice soothed, moving to wrap her cool arms around my shoulders and guiding me to the open seat next to Jasper, "I've already seen it. Edward, Carlisle, and Emmett's flight will land in five minutes and they'll be inside in another five minutes after that. Ten minutes, Bella. Calm down…please…?" Now Alice was rubbing by arms in an attempt to comfort me. I didn't miss the desperate glance she threw at Jasper, who was seated on the other side of me.

I felt Jasper's wave of calm. I couldn't resist it this time; the calm was too strong and Jasper was too close. I looked at him pleadingly, begging him to ease up a bit with my eyes. He gave me a sympathetic smile and I immediately felt the calm ease, but only marginally.

"Thanks."

Now that I was slightly calmer, I felt like I should make the most of it and actually relax. I shrank down in my very uncomfortable seat so I could rest my head against the chair's back and closed my eyes. I was envisioning Edward rushing at a fairly quick human pace, searching the terminal for me. I envisioned myself planting myself right at the gate and searching for him as well, just as frantically. I chuckled to myself at the fact that I was now imagining the clichéd scene when the two lovers are reunited and, to speed up the process, they run for each other in a desperate attempt to hold each other for the sake of being held. As much as I would have loved for this scene to play out, it simply couldn't given the fact that I could barely walk ten feet from my room at Charlie's to the bathroom without being in some kind of danger of tripping and getting a concussion.

For what seemed like the ten millionth time in the span of about three minutes, I opened my eyes to pull my phone out of my pocket and checked the time; 7:24. It had been approximately two minutes since I had last checked the time and about seven since Alice had informed me that Carlisle, Emmett and Edward would be walking through the gate in approximately ten minutes' time. Three minutes…I could do this…

Who was I kidding…? I sighed impatiently and thrust myself out of my seat and decided to begin making my way over to check the flight board to make sure the plane had in fact landed and then over to the gate. I stood directly in front of the entrance of the gate, hoping with every fiber of my being that the three vampires getting off the plane would be among the first to get off.

After a minute or so of me trying to crane my neck to see despite the fact that no one was getting off the plane yet, I began bouncing on the balls of my feet. I felt childish…hell, I felt like Alice. I chuckled to myself. Alice and Jasper, being vampires, heard my chuckle and made their way to where I stood, impatiently. The pair passed behind me and leaned against the wall to my left in an attempt to avoid looking like crazy people, like me…

"They're here," Alice's voice chimed. I glanced quickly at her and Jasper, noting that both of them had only shifted their weight slightly.

With Alice's announcement, I began to feel myself getting worked up; all I could think about was Edward and being in his arms again and then the six of us quickly finding the fastest way to the ballet studio. I prayed to God it wasn't too late. The people began pouring into the terminal and I felt the tears welling up in my eyes at the thought of it being too late to save my mom from James. I had been too preoccupied in my pessimism to see Emmett, then Carlisle and the Edward rushing through the gate almost too quickly for a human.

"Bella," I felt his cold strong arms wrap themselves around me before I registered Edward's angelic voice saying my name. I had enough time to wrap my own arms around Edward's waist before his hard lips came crashing down on mine. For half a second, I was able to lose myself in his kiss. Everything was almost alright when I was in his arms after being away from him for, in my opinion, far too long.

The kiss was filled with passion and I could feel Edward's desperation and it matched my own desperation, but all too soon, Edward pulled away, pulling me closer to him. He took a second to gaze into my eyes, probably trying to read my mind and failing.

"Edward," Jasper urged. I hadn't realized that the rest of my family had already been waiting several feet away.

Alice must have told Edward through her mind what she had seen James doing through her mind because Edward's grip around my waist tightened slightly and then he released my waist and took my hand into his as we began to make out way very quickly out of the airport.

Alice, Carlisle and Emmett were already waiting next to two taxis. Edward, Alice and I piled into the first and Emmett, Carlisle and Jasper climbed into the second.

"Scottsdale, please," I muttered. The cabbie turned around and looked at me like I was insane for having him drive that far, "I've got the money," I said with conviction. The cabbie gave a slight nod and we were on our way out of the airport...At a snail's pace…This was going to be a long twenty-five-minute cab ride. I groaned when I realized there was a fair amount of traffic on the road as well. We were never going to get there in time.

"Please hurry," I heard Edward tell the cabbie, "I don't care how fast you go, but we need to get to Mimi's Ballet Studio ASAP." I leaned closer to Edward, burying my face into his chest and muttering my thanks through the soft cotton of his t-shirt. I knew he heard me when I felt his lips kissing the top of my head. I vaguely heard him whisper something about everything being alright, too.

Now, in the cab ride to Mimi's and to James and my mother, the tears of desperation and fear I had been trying so hard to suppress were beginning to spill over. I hadn't notice how much I needed this release until I heard myself practically choking for air. I pulled my head away from Edward's chest and noticed a significant wet spot of salty tears in his dark cotton t-shirt.

"Ed-Edward…h-he has m-my m-mom," I hiccupped uncontrollably, more tears streaming down my face.

Edward's hand gently brushed hair away from my face, soothing me, "Shhh, everything is going to be ok, Bella. Nothing bad will happen to your mother, I promise you, everything will be fine."

"He has my mom…" was all I could manage as I curled myself close to Edward again, practically in his lap. I felt Alice, who had been silently watching the dark Arizona landscape pass in the window of the cab, place a comforting hand on my arm and begin to move her hand up and down in another effort to soothe me.

After about ten minutes more of me sobbing inconsolably into Edward's shirt, the tears began to finally dissipate and I began to pull myself more upright in the seat, sniffling a bit.

Edward pulled my chin gently to get me to look him in the eye. He studied me for a second, gazing into my eyes, as if to will me to be as positive of the situation as he and his sister, "Bella…" he said gently.

"I'm going to be ok," I answered softly, already knowing what he was asking. I managed to smile weakly as I saw traces of my favorite crooked grin appear on Edward's face, effectively cheering me up for about two minutes.

We rode in the cab in silence for another ten minutes with me constantly looking through the back windshield to make sure the others were still in the cab behind us. I wasn't half surprised to see Emmett at the wheel. He must have paid the cabbie really well to convince him to let him drive. This being said, I knew for a fact that our cabbie was driving much, much too slow for any vampire's liking, let alone Emmett's. Edward chuckled faintly too, when he saw that I had noticed who was driving the cab behind us. I was touched by Emmett's sense of urgency and loyalty to his 'little sister'.

My thoughts were thrust back to our own cab in an instant when I heard Alice gasp in shock and then I heard a soft growl erupt from both Alice and Edward's chests. I looked at Edward and then at Alice and back to Edward, hoping they would tell me what it was Alice had just seen.

"She's not there," Alice said, her voice and eyes distant, "James doesn't have your mom, Bella,"

With that I allowed myself a sigh of relief, but then immediately wondered why the both of them had growled in response to such good news.

"Then why…?" I began.

"Because he knows you're on your way there," Alice answered.

My heart sank again, my mind moving a million miles a minute, "Does he know I'm not alone? How did he know I'd come? Is the other female with him? Alice, what is he planning?!" I was frantic again. I vaguely noticed myself clinging onto Edward's hand for dear life. If Edward were human, I'm pretty sure I would have at the very least given him significant bruises on his poor hand.

"He doesn't know we're with you and it will stay that way if we can help it," Edward growled even louder than before at this, "Edward," Alice stated firmly, "if he knows we're with her, he'll form another plan to get her alone and in doing so, he'll run, making it that much harder for us to end this once and for all."

Alice's logic made sense and I could tell Edward knew it despite the fact that he most certainly didn't like it.

Now Alice's attention was back on me, "James is a tracker, Bella, meaning he is far better at luring his prey away from safety, that's how he knew you'd meet him; he's very confident in his ability," Alice paused, stealing a glance at Edward as if you verify something silently. I didn't see any kind of response from Edward, though, vocal or otherwise, he just sat there tensely, still in the cab, stroking my hand soothingly, "And no, from what I can tell, Victoria is still near Forks. Esme and Rosalie are watching over Charlie, just like Edward told you earlier." Alice tried to sound happy now. At least there was some good news.

The cab had lapsed back into silence and I still had no idea what had passed between Edward and Alice earlier. I doubted Edward would tell me and Alice definitely wouldn't with Edward right there. I knew we were getting close to the ballet studio, though. I could still make out my surroundings in the growing darkness.

"How are we going to do this?" I asked to no one in particular, "I mean, he wanted me to show up by myself…" We were about five minutes away now, fairly close to my house, actually.

"Pull over here, please," Edward demanded gruffly.

When the cabs came to a stop on the side of the shoulder, everyone exited. I stood nervously waiting for instruction as to how to get to James now that we had sent the taxis away; Edward couldn't give me a lift up to the doorstep and it was still too far to walk.

As soon as Alice finished telling Emmett, Carlisle and Jasper what was going on, Edward turned to me, pinning my arms to my sides gently to get me to look at him, "Emmett is going to run you to your house, that's within walking distance of the studio and James doesn't know Emmett's scent, so he won't suspect anything."

"What are you – ?"

"We're taking a more round-about route. You'll be fine. I promise you nothing will happen. We're going to end this tonight," With that, Edward pulled me in for a desperate hug and a chaste kiss. I was beginning to muster up some confidence for myself, but I didn't like Edward's desperation one bit. It was as if he was still trying to reassure himself that everything was going to go according to plan.

"I love you," I searched Edward's eyes for another long moment, trying to convey just how much I truly did love him, regardless of what he thought of himself.

"I love you, too," he answered. I now noticed that Carlisle, Alice, and Jasper had vanished; probably getting a head start on the 'round-about route'. Emmett was waiting for mine and Edward's moment to be over so he could get me to my house safely, "Please, when you're walking, try not to hurt yourself." With that, Edward released me, retreating in the same direction the cabs had brought us. Edward's topaz eyes held my gaze until the darkness appeared to swallow him.

"Ready?" Emmett asked, seriously.

I sighed and nodded, allowing him to lift me onto his back before taking off at vampire speed in the direction of my Arizona home. Alice must have told him which way to go.

It was a matter of minutes before Emmett had come to a stop on my doorstep, "Okay," Emmett started, "this is your stop. We'll see you there in a few minutes and please don't fall on your face or anything…from what I can sense right now, that really would not be in anyone's best interests, especially yours…" Emmett tried to lighten the mood with a smile.

I chuckled half-heartedly, "Is falling on my face ever in my best interests, Emmett?"

"Hmm, I guess not, Bells. Good luck," Before I could even blink, Emmett was gone and I was alone. I wasn't alone for long, but I was still alone and that thought alone was terrifying to me.


	2. Chapter 2

…_"Hmm, I guess not, Bells. Good luck," Before I could even blink, Emmett was gone and I was alone. I wasn't alone for long, but I was still alone and that thought alone was terrifying to me._

As I made my way down the street towards the ballet studio and towards James, I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched. I chose to hope that it was Edward who was watching me as opposed to James or this Victoria creature that Alice had mentioned, but I also chose to believe Alice's vision when she said that Victoria was still in Forks. That fact alone terrified me even more that the stretch of lonely, poorly lit, ominous stretch of suburban Arizona street that laid out in front of me which led directly to my supposed doom.

Despite the all too warm evening, I shivered involuntarily. I was surprised that I hadn't tripped over my own two feet yet and dared to glance around in search of topaz eyes watching me, guiding me safely towards the ballet studio, but saw nothing but the silhouettes of darkened houses along the street; it must be fairly late for every single house on the block to be completely dark.

For the last stretch of my walk, I allowed my thoughts to focus on what was about to happen. Even more than that, I focused on the silver lining of the situation that James in fact did not have my mother, that she was perfectly safe in Florida with Phil. I breathed a sigh of relief as I continued down the street, but with every step, that newfound relief slowly ebbed away. When I reached the door of the studio I was nearly in a panic again and I could my hands becoming clammy as fresh terror surged through me.

I was not surprised to find the door unlocked, though. Normally, this neighborhood was relatively safe and low-maintenance, so people could afford to leave their homes and businesses unlocked, something pretty rare in much of the rest of the area.

I burst through the large wooden doors of the studio and was overwhelmed by dozens of mirrors, all of which were strategically placed throughout the room to reflect some part of my tense reflection back at me. I noticed all of this as well as the fact that James, himself, was nowhere to be found

The first thing I heard was a grainy recording of some home video of my mother and I and I again silently thanked Alice for having her fairly dependable visions. I somehow remembered where the small, outdated television set was stored in the closet in the corner with the tutus, but chose to allow the grainy tape to drone on in the background; I had come here to confront James and that was it. I didn't want to fall prey to his games and trickery anymore.

I paused in the center of the studio after I thought I had heard some kind of movement behind me near the door I had just entered the room through. As soon as I had registered the extremely faint noise and turned around to investigate, the door slammed shut with a thunderous bang, causing me to nearly have a heart attack. When I settled down again slightly, my eyes focused on the only other person in the building: James.

"I must admit, Isabella," he sneered at me, looming ever closer to me now, "I am kind of disappointed that you realized so soon that I don't have your mother."

"I'm not as dumb as I look," I retorted. I thought I heard him scoff at my comment and mutter something I couldn't quite hear.

"I can't tell, though, if you are very brave to come here all alone or very stupid,"

"What do you mean?" Now, James was standing right in front of me, his face inches away from my own. His tone caused me to become more tense than I already was and my subconscious was beginning to tell me that something very bad was about to happen. Where were Edward and his family? They needed to get here, _now_.

"Let's just say we're even," James took a split second to take in my puzzled expression before he answered it, "You tricked me, I tricked you…again."

My heart sank when I suddenly realized that Edward and his family weren't coming. Something bad had happened, James must have found out somehow that they were with me and brought it upon him to do something to prevent them from getting here in time to save me. I sank to the floor; new tears were welling up in my eyes. I didn't want to show this kind of raw emotion in front of James, but this new revelation was simply too much for me to bear quietly, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!" I shrieked in utter terror, I was unable to stifle any sort of sob at this point.

James enjoyed my display of raw emotion and even had the audacity to laugh at my expense.

"They're all still alive, I promise you," he said, lowering himself to be looking straight into my eyes, "you just won't be saved tonight."

At his words, my heart shattered; it had never even occurred to me, even for a second, that any of them might be…_dead_. But, according to the monster crouched before me, none of them were dead and hopefully not hurt.

It took a while for the sobs to die down enough for me to form any sort of coherent words, let alone sentences, "Where are they, then? What did you do to them? Where's Edward?!" My voice became gradually more hysterical as I voiced my fears and my desperation to see Edward.

James laughed in amusement, "They're with some friends…"

"Victoria?"

"No, your little pixie friend was correct in saying that she was still in Washington, but I do have other friends, dear Bella, I'm not a loner…"

"Laurent?"

James hissed and the mention of the one vampire that had actually tried to help us get away. Apparently James and Laurent were not on speaking terms at the moment, duly noted.

The tension within the studio had caused us to lapse into silence. I found myself allowing my imagination to get the better of me, something that was not helpful to the situation in the least. I began to picture James's friends doing something terrible to the Cullens, to Edward. The thought alone brought on fresh tears, but this time I managed to keep myself together enough as to not begin sobbing again. I could imagine other sadistic vampires holding little Alice captive somewhere, although I wasn't sure how given a vampires incredible strength. I had other similar thoughts running through my mind regarding Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle as well.

The one thought that nearly killed me was what they were doing to Edward. I was sure he was getting the worst of whatever James was having his friends do to my family…what they were doing to Edward. the scene in my mind regarding Edward was not unlike a scene out of some kind of police show where the criminal is torturing his prey by having their beloved detained somewhere close by and forcing them to watch the inevitable torture that was about to be suffered by the victim.

This scenario brought me a miniscule semblance of comfort in that, if this scenario was actually what was happening, it meant that Edward was somewhere nearby…perhaps even in this very building. I began imagining a two-way mirror hidden somewhere within the studio or some kind of hidden video camera providing feed to another room or office inside the building. I almost began to believe my imaginings.

"Would you like to see him?" James asked vaguely, his harsh and mocking words pulling me from my thoughts.

I didn't need to know who he was talking about. The only response I gave him was a hopefully determined nod as I scrambled to my feet, still in the middle of the studio.

James had left the studio and come back within seconds, apparently telling his 'buddy' to bring Edward to the studio.

I stood there waiting desperately staring at the now open door, waiting to see Edward. I tried not to think about what kind of state he might be in.

I heard some kind of scuffle in the lobby before I even saw the shadows cast from the moonlight. Then, I saw a tall vampire with dark brown hair and blood red eyes enter the studio, pushing Edward in front of him, holding Edward's arms behind his back in what appeared to be an uncomfortable position. I scanned Edward's body and face, making sure he was alright. His normally topaz eyes were now black with rage. I noticed that he was also looking me up and down and studying me to make sure I was alright as well. Other than his obvious discomfort and rage, Edward appeared to be fine. Before I could even think to stop myself, I broke out at a sprint towards Edward. I needed to hold him, touch him…I needed to feel for myself that he was alright…

I managed to reach Edward and the other, unknown vampire without any trouble from James. I was surprised that the other vampire let Edward go, roughly pushing him towards me. I turned to look at James, his face smug.

"We'll leave you two alone for a few minutes to get…reacquainted…" James and the other vampire glided toward the exit, choosing to ignore Edward's very distinct growl.

When I was positive we were, in fact, alone, I threw myself into Edward's cold, strong embrace. Edward laughed lightly, but also wrapped his arms around my waist tightly, as if he never wanted to let me go.

"Edward…"

"Nothing, Bella, they didn't do anything to me. They just knew where we were going to be and ambushed us," Edward saw the pain in my eyes at his use of the word, ambush and quickly stroked my cheek lightly, "No one was hurt Bella. Everyone is fine. You don't need to worry."

How could I not worry; they were my family, Edward was my entire life. If anyone had hurt any one of them, especially Edward, it would have killed me.

I had no words for the moment, so I stood up on my tippy toes and kissed him with as much urgency and passion and love I could muster. Edward returned the kiss with equal passion, urgency and love. He didn't even mind at all that my hands of their own free will had found their way into his messy bronze hair.

"Bella," Edward gasped when he finally pulled away, "we need to think of some kind of plan here…"

"Edward, if we try to think of a plan, I'm almost positive they'll know and they'll squash it…" I paused to take a deep, calming breath, "…and when they realize that we've come up with some kind of plan, they'll take you from me…I can't even think of what I'd do, Edward. I need you. I love you." For what seemed to be the millionth time tonight, I felt relentless tears streaming down my cheeks and seeping into Edward's t-shirt as I buried my face into his chest.

Edward began stroking my hair gently before taking my chin into his hand gently, forcing me to look into his eyes, "They won't do anything to me, Bella. I won't let them…and I sure as hell won't let them do anything to you. I'd rather die than see anything bad happen to you," I opened my mouth to protest that last sentence, but Edward placed two fingers against my lips to prevent me from speaking, "Now Bella, we need to think of a way out of this mess…" Edward's eyes were now boring into mine with an intensity that made my knees begin to shake. If I weren't being held up by Edward, I'd most likely be a puddle on the floor. This wasn't fair, but he was right we did need a plan.

We both knew we didn't have much alone time left, so we had quickly devised an almost fool-proof plan before James sauntered back into the studio, alone this time.

"Have we gotten reacquainted now?" he asked mockingly. Edward hissed violently at James and pushed me behind his back protectively. Not wanting to lose any kind of contact with Edward, I reached out and clutched the back of Edward's t-shirt. Picking up on my desperation, Edward reached behind his back and offered me his hand, which I took in my own and held onto it as though my life depended on it…and it probably did depend on it, too.

"Isn't that sweet," James mocked, "big strong Edward is going to protect the weak, fragile little human _Isabella_," James began circling again and I had to grind my teeth together to keep from correcting James as well as saying something a I was sure I was going to regret.

"You can't win, James," Edward said threateningly, rotating us so that he was always between me and James, "You might have detained us before, but I will _not_ let you so much as even touch a hair on Bella's head. It would be in your best interests to just let us go and to forget any of this ever happened; call off the hunt, so to speak."

"Now, Edward, you know why I can't do that…it wouldn't be keeping to character. And besides, she smells absolutely delicious. Surely, you can't deny that?"

A vicious growl and snarl erupted from Edward's throat, making my draw even closer to Edward's back and cling tighter to his hand that I still held in my own. I was getting an inkling that a serious fight was about to break out and someone was going to get hurt…badly.


	3. Chapter 3

_A vicious growl and snarl erupted from Edward's throat, making my draw even closer to Edward's back and cling tighter to his hand that I still held in my own. I was getting an inkling that a serious fight was about to break out and someone was going to get hurt…badly. _

Before that inkling even had a chance to form completely in my head, I felt Edward stiffen even more than he already had. Slowly, he backed the two of us up so my back was against a wall in the corner, the furthest from James and furthest from the fight that was about to break out.

Edward let out a sort of warning growl and slowly turned to face me, his back now on James, "Bella," he began, his eyes begging me to listen to what he was about to say, "Please…don't move from this spot. I would get you out of here if I could, but James has his _friends _waiting…" It was going to get ugly, I already knew, but now I was becoming more and more aware of just how ugly it was going to get.

"Edward, I love you," I blurted out before Edward had time to turn around and face James.

Edward let out a soft sigh and leaned in to plant a chaste, yet passionate kiss on my lips, "I love you, too, Isabella. This is _not_ the end, Bella, so please; don't make it sound so final. We _are _going to make it out of here." I couldn't help but think that Edward was saying this not only for my own sanity, but also to convince himself as well. I put on a strong face for him, but I couldn't deny the shadows in the back of my head that were telling me that I might not make it out of here _alive_. Sure, I might be alive, but not by Edward's standards which required my heart to actually beat.

I slowly slid to the ground and curled up in with my knees drawn to my chest, leaning against the wall behind me as I watched my love turn to face James in order to protect me. The last bit of contact we had was our hands slowly drifting apart. I began to slowly wrap my mind around the possibility that I might be changed…_tonight_. It wasn't that I didn't want that; I had wanted it from the moment Edward and I had declared ourselves that day in the meadow. I just didn't want it to happen like this, I wanted Edward to be the one to do it…

So, I sat there in the exact spot Edward had left me in quietly whimpering for Edward. I could see and hear everything that was going on. At the moment, the two vampires were both in crouches, ready to pounce at a millisecond's notice. I wanted this fight to be over with, but even more than that, I wanted Edward to be safe, in my arms again, but is wasn't as if James was going to give up. He needed to be stopped and the only way that would happen was through a fight to the death.

As Edward and James continued to circle one another menacingly, I began to hope against hope that there was still a way that the rest of the Cullens could help; maybe Edward was stalling, waiting for Alice or Jasper, or Emmett.

Edward's thunderous growl followed by a menacing snarl brought my thoughts back to reality, what was James thinking…?

"This is your last warning," Edward growled, "forget about Bella and let us go."

And that was all it took to send James over the edge; the second the words left Edward's mouth, James lunged forward. Edward was too quick and managed to side-step James. I knew Edward's strategy was to force James to lose complete control and lash out beyond any coherent thought. I allowed myself to assume that this fight wouldn't take long given Edward's advantage of being a mind-reader.

I was wrong, however, in my assumption; James and Edward were much better matched than I had thought and the minutes ticked by, James hadn't even made contact with Edward, and it was easy to see he was very much in of control…_for now_, I allowed myself to hope...The circling had stopped and it was now just the two of them snarling and growling at each other; Edward was being very careful in his movements, keeping himself between me and James at all times.

I hated the fact that all I could do was sit there, in the corner where Edward had left me, and watch the fight in terror. I wanted to move and make a run for the door, but I couldn't; I was paralyzed with fear that if I moved so much as an inch, Edward would lose concentration, or one of James's new cronies would be waiting for me on the other side of the door, ready to kill me. I had no choice but to sit there and watch.

The back and forth between the two vampires was almost unbearable to watch, but I couldn't look away. I had to watch the fight so I could be absolutely certain that, although he was in this mess because of me, he was still in one piece. After what seemed like hours, the circling began again, this time the growls and snarls erupting from either vampire were significantly louder and I could vaguely feel the floor of the studio vibrating from the noise. James lunged again, going for Edward's throat this time, as opposed to his previous tactics in going after an arm or a leg. My heart stopped when I heard Edward gasp in pain: James had made some kind of contact and injured Edward.

"…no…" I whispered desperately under my breath, watching Edward stagger ever so slightly, his right arm grasping his left shoulder where James had apparently drawn first blood. My mind began racing for ideas of some way for me to help. Edward was hurt, I didn't care that it was only a scratch. He was hurt and I needed to help him, distract James. I was minutely aware of the fact that the only real way to distract James now was for me to draw my own blood somehow, but I wasn't sure how to go about doing that, there weren't any sharp objects within reach of my corner.

I was startled by a loud crash to my left, turning to look, I saw that James had taken advantage of Edward's moment of weakness and had thrown Edward into the wall, sending shards of glass from the mirrors in every direction. Edward was slow to get up and my heart shattered, like the broken glass pieces all around the room at the thought of Edward seeming so helpless. I quickly began to scramble over to Edward's side on all fours, but before I had moved so much as an inch, I felt a sharp pain along my shin. I forced myself to halt my attempt to get to Edward's side and examine my leg. I groaned silently when I realized that in my attempt to get to Edward to make sure he was alright, I had managed to crawl over the pieces of glass that were scattered all over the studio, _well there's my distraction_, I thought, dryly. I drew my left, injured leg to my chest so I could reach down and remove the piece of glass from my leg, gasping in pain.

It wasn't a deep cut; if I was ever going to get out of here, I didn't think I would need stitches.

I was surprised at how well I was dealing with the sight and smell of my own blood, but my surprise was quickly squashed when I looked up to throw Edward an apologetic glance only to find James hurling himself at me in an attempt to drain my blood.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact and the feeling of James's teeth sinking into my skin, but they never came. Instead I heard Edward's thunderous growl and opened my eyes in time for me to see Edward throwing himself at James to keep him away from me. _This_ was the real fight.

James and Edward were now fighting intensely at vampire speed, each making some kind of contact with every movement. Edward was getting weaker by the second and I was sure my bloodied leg wasn't helping him at all either. In an effort to help, I shrugged off my zip-up hoodie I'd been wearing and wrapped it around my injured leg in hopes to stem the blood flow, or at the very least, to mask it.

I was so wrapped up in bandaging my shin with my sweatshirt that I jumped when I felt a cold hand on my shoulder, looking up, I realized it was only Carlisle and he was carrying a med kit…of course.

"How did you…?"

"We'd led James's friends away from here at least half an hour ago," I hadn't realized so little time had passed; I thought Edward and James had been fighting for hours, days even, "Alice was waiting for Edward's signal…then you got hurt…"

"Oh," was all I could manage as I watched Carlisle wrap my leg in gauze. My eyes were darting from Carlisle to the fight and back every few seconds. It wasn't looking so good, Edward was getting weaker and weaker with every movement, but thankfully, so was James.

I could feel myself getting more and more terrified by the second despite the fact that I now knew that James was completely alone in the fight now. His friends weren't of any help to him now that Carlisle, Alice, Emmett and Jasper had led them away somewhere.

In an attempt to distract me, Carlisle began explaining what had prevented himself, Emmett, Jasper and Alice from getting here sooner, apparently they had gone too far away from the ballet studio to be effectively aware of what was going on inside.

I looked at him questioningly, asking him with my eyes why the others weren't here now, "…The others had to take Jasper away for a moment so he could compose himself," said Carlisle, glancing down at my leg as an explanation.

"That's understandable," I shrugged sheepishly, glancing down at my leg as Carlisle pulled my pant leg down to cover the fresh gauze he'd just applied.

It was then, when I was completely distracted by Carlisle, that I heard an earsplitting noise much like solid rock being torn in two. I had a vague idea what it was. It sounded too much like the noise I'd heard last night during the baseball game when Emmett and Edward had crashed into each other trying to catch the fly ball. This noise sounded much worse, possibly because I knew what it signified.

Carlisle and I looked up at the same time and I really wished I hadn't; James had finally caused substantial damage. My worst nightmares had been confirmed; Edward was kneeling in the center of the studio, his right arm completely detached from his body. James had cast it aside, preparing to deal the fatal blow.

Edward wasn't making any audible noises to show that he was in pain. I knew it was to keep me from worrying about him and doing something reckless in an attempt to save him, but I could still see the look of pain written across his face and in his eyes even from where I sat across the room.

Carlisle was now forced into the fight. He ran at vampire speed to throw James across the studio in the opposite direction from Edward and me. In the next movement, he scooped Edward up and darted back to me to place Edward down gently next to me.

When Carlisle made his move to go and finish off James, I was vaguely aware of another sound of glass shattering, this time it was a window being broken into from the outside. Looking up, I saw, to my relief, Alice and Emmett. I guessed Jasper had decided to sit this one out because of my blood everywhere.

Now I could afford at least a small sigh of relief now that my family was here to finish off James.

I turned my full attention over to Edward and gently slid myself over to his side, reaching across his body to grasp his left hand in my right hand, "Edward…" I began, my eyes tearing up again, searching the rest of his body to make sure he didn't have any other potentially threatening injuries.

Apparently barely conscious, Edward managed a small, pain-filled smile, but it looked more like a grimace. I was now staring him in the eye, willing him to get better. Then I remembered that his other arm was on the other side of the room, lying there, forgotten. I figured the least I could do was retrieve it for Edward.

I struggled to get to my feet and used the wall as a crutch. My leg was throbbing from its injury, but it was bearable, at least enough for me to limp across the room to get Edward's arm and then back to Edward's side.

"…Bella…" I heard Edward call my name weakly. I had just picked up his arm and I looked towards Edward. I saw Alice rushing toward me out of the corner of my eye, but it was too late.


	4. Chapter 4

"…_Bella…" I heard Edward call my name weakly. I had just picked up his arm and I looked towards Edward. I saw Alice rushing toward me out of the corner of my eye, but it was too late._

I couldn't even blink before another vampire that was not Alice plowed into me. I was, however very aware of the fact that this vampire was tall and had dark brown hair and dark red eyes. Not only was he the same vampire that was holding Edward captive earlier, but he was also apparently thirsty. I was going to die.

The still unknown vampire took half a second to glance up to where Carlisle and Emmett were dismembering James and I vaguely heard him mutter a sort of an apology to James before he sank his teeth into my neck.

_This is it,_ I thought, I could feel the blood leaving my body in a hurry. That was until the unknown vampire was thrown from my body, probably by Alice.

The fire started immediately after I felt the vampire's teeth being forced from my neck.

Originating from the place where I had been bitten, the fire spread insanely fast through my blood stream. I was no longer able to decipher what was reality and what I was imagining; the fire spreading through me was too intense. It was almost too intense for me to even take a breath.

For the first few seconds, or what I thought were seconds, I was able to hold in my agonized screams, but the fire inside of me lashed out. I was no longer able to stifle my screams of agony once I had started. I was no longer aware of my body, either. I guessed I was probably writhing on the floor of the ballet studio, looking much like a fish out of water. In theory, this writhing seemed like a great way to help the transformation to progress faster, but it did nothing to satiate the agony I was in.

In one of my more lucid moments, I noticed flames being ignited inside the studio, _probably for James_, I thought. They might as well throw me into the pit, too. It would be better than this agony…

I faintly became aware of myself being carried a short distance, we were still in the studio though. I saw an outline of short, spiky hair. Alice.

"ALICE…._PLEASE_…STOP THE _BURNING_!" I was desperate. I knew water wouldn't do any good…nothing would …except… "Edward….where's Edward, Alice….please, where's _Edward_?" my voice was growing hoarse from my relentless screams.

If anything could end this excruciating pain, I knew it would be Edward.

"Bella, Edward's unconscious right now…he's healing…his arm…" Alice sounded sympathetic. I didn't want her sympathy, though, I needed Edward.

"I DON'T CARE ALICE, I _NEED _EDWARD!" by now, Alice had laid my on the ground back in my corner…at least I thought it was my corner… "Edward will stop…the…burning" I was gasping for air now, the fire seemed to be constricting my lungs. I knew, deep within my logical mind that it wasn't actually constricting, but at this particular moment, I couldn't give a damn about what my logical mind was saying, "God, it hurts, Alice…make it stop…" I think I saw Alice smile at me again sympathetically. Damn her and her sympathetic looks, couldn't she see I was burning in agony…

I tuned out mostly everything else after I realized no one would help put out the fire that was still surging through my veins, but that didn't mean I didn't notice things. Like the fact that I was being carried out of the ballet studio in Alice's arms and Carlisle had Edward in his. I didn't know where we were going, I didn't really care; the fire was still tearing me apart from the inside. At this point I was begging for someone to at the _very _least knock me out so I wouldn't consciously be in such agony…I must have gotten my wish…

I didn't know where I was now or how long I had been out, but when I came to, I appeared to be in a large, very white room. The fire was still there, but it was lessening, granted, it wasn't receding at a very fast pace, though, but I could still tell it was beginning to die down. I was, at the very least, more able to form more coherent thoughts although, I couldn't voice them yet. My screams had died down too. I was still whimpering from the pain, but I wasn't quite so far gone as I was back in the ballet studio…

My mind could almost focus completely now. I could feel the fire ebbing away in the very tippy tips of my fingers and toes. I was relieved, but I still wanted Edward to be there holding my hand. I hadn't a clue where they had taken him. I felt empty without him, but I was planning on running into his arms the second the fire stopped.

For the first time in what feels like an eternity, I allowed myself to hope and truly believe that the fire was going to leave me.

I was now able to think clearly and was hyperaware of everything around me, even the fact that the fire in my limbs had been completely extinguished.

The fire now seemed to be centralized in my chest, but it was fading fast; I could hear my heart beating faster and faster almost like it was trying to make up for lost time or something…Within a matter of seconds, though, my heart went from beating too, too fast to deathly slow. I could hear the last erratic beats of my heart and then everything stopped.

The fire was gone and my mind was totally clear, like it had been completely wiped clean.

It took me a moment before I was able to process everything. As far as I knew, I was now a vampire, James was gone and hopefully, so was his _friend_ who bit me, and Edward was on the mend…his arm…_Edward_. I gasped and sat bolt upright only to face the entire Cullen family, save one.

"Where's Edward?" I asked in a voice that was definitely not my own. I turned my head, taking in my surroundings while searching for Edward, noticing Alice was the closest to me, I looked into her butterscotch eyes, pleading, "please…?" I heard Jasper growl at me nervously, but ignored him. He was probably afraid I'd do something to hurt his wife. Alice also ignored her husband and slowly came closer and took my hand gently, in a gesture telling me that she'd lead me to Edward.

We walked slowly up to Edward's room where Alice left me at the door. Alice nodded and I took that to mean that they'd all give us some privacy. I had my hand on the doorknob and Alice turned to walk away, but I stopped her, "Alice," she turned back to face me, "he's ok, right?" I didn't know what I would do if he wasn't.

"He's still healing, but he'll be fine by tomorrow," she told me with a reassuring smile.

With Alice's words in mind, I took a deep breath and turned the knob and opened the door slowly. I gasped when I saw Edward lying on his bed, his right arm seemingly reattached and resting in a kind of sling, and his eyes closed. If I could still cry, I would have.

I didn't know whether he was conscious or not, so I walked over and sat down beside him on the bed, cupping his face in my hand. I was surprised to notice that he was no longer icy to my touch; he was warm to me now. We were the same. That thought alone made me smile.

"Edward," I whispered, my voice thick with remorse and fear and love, "please…if you can hear me…open your eyes. I…I need to see that you're ok…Please…"

I felt him take in an unnecessary breath and lean slightly into my touch before he actually open his eyes. They were black as night and it was my fault; he hadn't hunted since before the dreaded baseball game, but I couldn't dwell on that now because my Edward was awake and he was ok – apart from the fact that his arm was in a sling, but he was whole again and that was all I needed to know.

"Bella," his voice was as thick with emotion as mine was, "I'm so sorry," Edward tried to sit up as he spoke, but I laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, forcing him to stay down. Instead, I lowered myself down to him, making sure I was on his uninjured side and nestled my head against his now warm chest.

"Don't be, Edward," I began tracing invisible patterns against his muscular stomach, his body was finally soft to me, too…so many new things to being a vampire that I didn't expect… "Please, don't be sorry, we're equal now," I smiled up at him, lifting my head slightly to look into his dark eyes.

"Oh, Bella," he smiled, lifting his good hand to run his fingers through my darker, longer, shinier vampire hair.

I sighed with contentment, relishing in the moment, but our moment couldn't last long because of my burning curiosity, not to mention my burning throat. I stiffened at my realization that I needed to hunt soon, and Edward noticed.

"What is it, love?"

"Nothing," I tried, but apparently, even as a vampire, I was still a rotten liar.

"Bella, you have to hunt," he moved to gently push my head off his chest with his injured arm, but stopped the second he even tried to move his arm, gasping in pain. Within a split second, I was standing at the foot of the bed. It was as far away as I could allow myself to get from him, but I was scared that he was in any pain.

"Edward, I can't…you're hurt. I'm not leaving you." I moved a step closer to him, testing him. I knew he wouldn't and couldn't fight me on it, but I wanted to be sure.

Instead of being his usual, stubborn, pigheaded self, he let out an exasperated sigh and opened his good arm to me in a gesture telling me I could cuddle back up to him.

"…Does it…um…hurt?" I asked when I was settled on the bed again.

"Only if I try to move it," I knew him better than that and glared at him, forcing the truth out of him. He laughed, "Ok, yes, it hurts," he saw the look of pain and remorse flash across my face, "Bella, I was trying to protect you, so it was worth it…Please, don't look like that," he begged.

I sighed, "You're such a masochist," At that we both laughed and fell into a comfortable silence for several minutes until we heard a knock on the door.

Alice poked her head in, smiling softly, "Carlisle needs to look at you," she said gently, opening the door more, letting herself and Carlisle in. I sat up and slid over to the side of the bed so Carlisle could check his son's injuries.

Carlisle helped Edward to sit up slowly and painfully. Next, Carlisle slowly removed the sling from around Edward's neck that was holding Edward's arm in place. Then, Carlisle helped Edward remove his shirt. Edward endured this without a sound in order to keep me from worrying about him, but I noticed the way Edward's body tensed and how his jaw tightened whenever his injured arm was jostled even the slightest bit. When his shirt had been removed and after Carlisle had extended Edward's arm completely so it was resting lightly on the soft bed next to him, Edward offered me his good hand, which I took without hesitation.

Carlisle very gently poked and prodded Edward's arm around the area where it had detached and then he tested the mobility in Edward's arm, "Well you're nearly completely healed," Carlisle smiled at his son, "The pain should start receding soon. You should be good as new this time tomorrow."

I knew that the only reason Carlisle had spoken any of that was purely for my benefit, but I was grateful for him just the same, "Thank you, Carlisle," I smiled at him.

"You're very welcome Bella," and with that, Carlisle and Alice left the room, leaving Edward alone again.

Carlisle hadn't bothered to replace Edward's shirt or the sling, "Do you want me to…?" I asked awkwardly, glancing from the shirt to the sling and then to Edward.

"Don't worry about it; it's more comfortable this way anyways,"

"Ok," I took this moment to take in Edward's topless body. It was flawless. The only two marks on him were the faint scar from where James had injured him on his left shoulder and the other, slightly more predominant scar left from where his arm had been detached. I loved him just the same and nothing could nor ever would change that, "I love you, you know that?"

Edward laughed lightly, turning his head toward me, his eyes smiling, "I love you more," he was such a child.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really," he smirked.

I leaned in, closer to his face, my face just inches from his, "Prove it," I whispered seductively. I didn't know what had come over me, but I loved it…possibly a little too much.

While I had lost myself in my own thoughts, Edward shifted enough so he could lift his head enough to touch his lips to mine. It took me less than a second to respond to his kiss. This was the first kiss we had ever shared where we could actually allow ourselves to let ourselves go. Before I was changed, I remembered that Edward had to be on pins and needles the entire time he was around me and rightly so; I was a human after all. Now, it felt like we could do anything and it was wonderful. I was elated to realize that the spark I had always felt whenever we touched when I was still human was still there and it was impossibly magnified. I was on cloud nine, but as always, Edward was the one to pull away. Ever the gentleman.

"Wow," I gasped.

"Wow is right," Edward's voice was light and happy.

Unfortunately, happy Edward wasn't there to stay. Within a second, Edward's eyes darkened and his brow creased, "Bella," he began seriously, "we're going to have to go somewhere. We're going to have to leave now…" his voice had started out serious, but ended on a soft note, reaching his good arm up so his hand could caress my cheek.

I hadn't thought about leaving Forks. What was I going to tell Charlie? Could I even _tell_ Charlie _anything_? I knew the answer to that one: no. No human can ever know. All the ties that I had once had in my human life had been severed the second that vampire had bitten me. I sighed knowing it was driving Edward nuts not knowing what I was thinking, "What are we going to tell Charlie?"


	5. Chapter 5

_I hadn't thought about leaving Forks. What was I going to tell Charlie? Could I even tell Charlie anything? I knew the answer to that one: no. No human can ever know. All the ties that I had once had in my human life had been severed the second that vampire had bitten me. I sighed knowing it was driving Edward nuts not knowing what I was thinking, "What are we going to tell Charlie?"_

Edward's hand continued to caress my cheek while he thought, probably choosing his words carefully, "We could stage some kind of wreck on the highway headed toward Phoenix. Fake your death…" his plan only seemed to be half baked and I called him on it.

"What about you, Edward? Charlie will be suspicious when you don't come back to Forks, let alone the rest of our family," a flash of pure joy appeared in Edward's eyes when I revealed, probably for the first time, that his family was my family now if only for a brief second despite the heavy conversation we were having.

"We can still be here for a few weeks," he was thinking out loud now, "I'll show my face around town enough for Charlie to not be suspicious as well as the rest of my family, only you'd have to stay hidden…and then we'll come up with some reason to leave…for good…" this plan was better, but I still wasn't completely sold.

"If we stay here for a few weeks, you're still going to have to go to school. Without me. Edward, I don't want to have to wait around all day for you to come home from school. I want to be with you all day every day…forever," I hated that I was whining, but I was secretly terrified that he'd just magically decide one day that I wasn't good enough for him and then walk away. If that happened now, I'd be stuck, although, he would be completely within his rights; I was never good enough for him anyways, so why start now?

"Then we'll fake both our deaths, Bella. I honestly don't care what we come up with to say to Charlie," I looked down sadly at our intertwined hands, waiting for some cryptic form of rejection, but it never came. Instead, Edward released my hand to lift my chin with his thumb and index finger so he could look me in the eye, "Bella, I don't care what we tell Charlie so long as I have you by my side afterwards. That's all that matters to me." I leaned down to kiss him softly before nestling my head in the crook of his neck.

After a few moments of silence, Edward sighed in frustration.

"What?" I laughed.

"Do you want the list?" Edward was playing, too. I smiled and nodded, "First, I'm going to miss your blush. Second, I'm going to miss your clumsiness. Third, I still can't hear what you're thinking," Edward was so adorable when he pouted. I had half a mind to kiss the pout off his face, but thought better of it, I could remember Edward telling me once that newborns would often get distracted or carried away very quickly and I feared if I kissed him repetitively like that we might both do something we might regret later on.

Instead, I laughed it off, "Well, I for one am glad you still can't read my mind. And are you trying to tell me you don't like me this way…now that I'm less…edible…?" I feigned hurt and had to stifle a giggle when Edward's pouting changed into one of pure mortification when he realized he might have hurt my feelings or offended me in any way.

I couldn't keep my giggling in for long and after a few more seconds, my laughter erupted from my mouth in loud, almost Emmett-like guffaws. I was at the point where I had actually rolled off the bed and onto the floor laughing.

When I had finished my little laughing fit and composed myself enough to climb back onto Edward's bed and snuggle up to him, Edward was smirking too.

"How's your arm?" I asked, wanting to change the subject although I was perfectly content with just lying there in Edward's embrace during my first night as a vampire.

"It's actually starting to feel a lot better," Edward said cheerfully, "I think I might actually be able to move it now," Edward readjusted me with his good arm in preparation for his little experiment.

"Edward, if it hurts, then don't…" I watched as Edward managed to flex his arm and actually lift it up. I also studied his features carefully and noticed he hadn't tensed or flinched at all, "Carlisle," I called quietly, knowing he would hear me.

Carlisle, Emmett, Esme and Alice all walked into Edward's room within seconds. I hadn't actually seen Esme or Emmett since my change, so I got up and hugged both of them warmly. Emmett, of course, decided to turn my warm, sisterly hug into a bear hug and Esme's was exactly as a mother was greeting her daughter after returning home from college. I was glad I could still have at least that. We all stood waiting around Edward's bed, watching Carlisle examine Edward's arm again, hoping for good news. I hadn't noticed before, but Edward and I had spent quite some time talking since Carlisle's last 'check-up,' so I probably shouldn't have been too incredibly surprised when Edward was able to move his arm on his own without pain.

"Well, it seems as though you're 100% healed, Edward," Carlisle said with a smile, "Maybe you'd like to take Bella for her first hunt?" I was beaming at the thought that Edward was alright again, and now that he mentioned it, I was still trying to ignore the relentless burning in the back of my throat that I knew would never go away no matter how often I hunted.

Edward nodded and hopped out of bed, still disregarding the fact that he was shirtless and made his way over to me, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"Actually, Edward," Alice chimed in, "Bella hasn't seen herself yet…?" I knew she was silently asking permission to show me what I looked like as a vampire.

"Make it quick, Alice, I'm really thirsty," I consented and Alice took my hand and dragged me out of Edward's room and toward her own.

After half a second, I found myself in Alice's monstrous walk-in closet. In front of me there was a full mirror covered in a sheet. Alice had planned this. When I glanced over at her impatiently, she was just closing the door to her room. She could barely contain herself. I groaned internally.

"Alice, _please_," I whined.

"Fine," with that, she pulled the sheet from the mirror with a flick of her wrist.

I stood there for what seemed like hours, gaping at my now renovated reflection. My skin previously pale skin was white now, but that was to be expected. My new body, however, seemed to have taken on the shape if some kind of super model. Thankfully, I was one of those super models that at least looked to be a healthy size rather than a skinny toothpick thanks to the venom enhanced muscles. I even had curves. My face had become slightly more angular now and the transformation had either disguised or completely eliminated any and all possible flaws. I could hardly believe I was still looking at plain old Bella Swan. But that was just it; I was expecting to see plain old Bella Swan, the _human_, but instead, I was looking at the new and improved and, dare I say, _gorgeous_ Bella Swan, the _vampire_. I was beautiful. I could almost even give Rosalie a run for her money, but not quite.

The last thing I had noticed in my newly improved reflection was my eyes. The second I saw the bright red color of my eyes, my unnecessary breathing stopped. I was terrified. Of course, I hadn't expected them to remain the same brown color as they had been while I was human, but I was hoping for the same golden butterscotch colored eyes that the Cullens had, or at least black. Then, I wouldn't have been so terrified. These bright crimson eyes reminded me of the monsters that were portrayed through Hollywood that would stop at nothing to drain any innocent human dry. These eyes also made me think of James and his friend, the one who had initially turned me. I didn't want that. Not for a second.

These new, bright red eyes symbolized the same sadistic, evil vampire that had stalked and tried to kill me when I was still human. He had tried to take me away from Edward. Additionally, James and his friends were the only proof I had ever seen that Edward was correct in classifying himself as a monster. I wouldn't allow that. I couldn't. Edward was not and could never be a monster despite all of the atrocious things he might have done in the past, and I didn't want to hang around in house with my eyes being the color that they were proving him right.

And with that reasoning I turned away from the mirror and ran out the open window of Alice's bedroom leaving Alice with a shocked and slightly sympathetic expression on her face. She didn't try to stop me.

In my haste to get away, I didn't even realize what I was wearing. That was probably the real reason Alice had wanted to get me in front of a mirror so badly. But, at this point I truly didn't care about the navy blue summer dress that I was wearing that fell just above my knees. It was, however, easy to run in because of its flowing summer dress quality. For that, I was thankful; it made my getaway faster…

As I was running, I could vaguely hear Alice informing the rest of her family about what was happening. This didn't stop me. I was too scared of myself and what I represented. I was terrified of becoming the same kind of monster as James and his friend had been. Most of all, I was afraid of disappointing Edward. He had worked so hard to bring himself back from being the monster he claimed to be. I didn't want him to possibly have to pull me back together if I had an accident. I didn't want to be the reason the Cullens would leave town. What if they didn't take me with them? What if they thought I was too much of a liability for them while I was a newborn? This thought only increased my drive and determination to run. I pushed myself harder, the trees and leaves blurring past me at impossible speeds.

Somehow I knew Edward was following me. He had to see that I was alright and to make sure I didn't do something incredibly stupid in my desperate need to get away. I wanted to stop and turn around and run into his arms and have him hold me until every trace of fear was gone, but that same fear was what kept me running away.

I wasn't even remotely aware of where I was going until I somehow found myself entering a perfectly circular meadow; mine and Edward's meadow, if my fuzzy human memories served me correctly.

I slowly came to a stop at the center of the meadow. I was sinking to my knees, desperately wishing I could still cry. Instead, I settled for the onslaught of dry, tearless sobs that wracked my body as I cried into the ground.

A few seconds after I had allowed my tearless sobs to overtake me, I heard Edward approaching the meadow. He was being cautious. He didn't want me to run off again.

Slowly, he approached me in the center of the meadow. He didn't crouch down to comfort me. It was almost as if he were waiting for me to come to him or for me to give him permission to hold me. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that was what I really wanted, but I was too stubborn. I wasn't ready just yet, either.

He stood there for several minutes waiting for me to compose myself. I was agonized by the fact that he had to witness this. I didn't want him to see my mental breakdown especially because part of it had to do with an irrational fear that he would decide to leave me because I was an uncontrollable newborn, liable to lose control and lash out at any given second without a second thought to the probable collateral damage that would be done.

After what seemed like a century, my tearless sobs ceased and I sniffled a bit as I slowly rose to my feet. I was careful to keep my back to him. I didn't want to see the expression on his face or in his eyes.

"Bella," he whispered. He sounded desperate to help me in any way he could, "tell me what I can do…please?"

My resolve cracked enough for me to slowly turn around, still not meeting his gaze, "I'm sorry," I whispered under my breath. I could barely hear myself.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" he asked, reaching out to cup my cheek in his hand, "I should be the one apologizing to you for allowing this to happen…"

My eyes snapped up to meet his. I was mad now, "Don't do that, Edward," I said, my voice hard, "Don't you dare do that."

"Do what?"

"Try to blame yourself for this. There was nothing you could have done."

"Of course there was, Bella, I…"

I cut him off, "No, Edward, there wasn't. Besides, now we can spend forever together…That is, if you'll still want me that long…" I allowed my insecurities to take over again and let my hair fall down in front of my face as a wall.

"What are you talking about, Bella?" he asked, gently brushing my hair behind my ear and tilting my chin up with is thumb and forefinger so I was forced to look him in the eye, "Of course I'll still want you…" he whispered, taking a step closer to me. We were now close enough for him to wrap his free arm around my waist to bring me closer to him.

I leaned into his embrace and whispered, "I can't imagine why…"

Edward simply chuckled and leaned his head down cautiously as if he were waiting for a kiss, like he was asking permission. When I realized what he wanted, I more than happily obliged. The kiss wasn't short, but it wasn't anywhere near as heated as other kisses we'd shared. After several seconds, he pulled away and laughed when I tried to follow his mouth. I wanted more. Instead of allowing me more, though, he gently leaned his forehead against mine.

Now that I was calmed down, I was able to think somewhat clearly, "Edward?" I asked.

"Yes, love?

"Can we please hunt? I'm going crazy over here…" it was true; the burn in the back of my throat was beginning to get unbearable.

Edward simply chuckled again and took my hand, leading me out of the meadow.


	6. Chapter 6

"_Can we please hunt? I'm going crazy over here…" it was true; the burn in the back of my throat was beginning to get unbearable._

_Edward simply chuckled again and took my hand, leading me out of the meadow._

At first, I was terrified of hunting. Most of this irrational fear came from the fact that I had no idea how to do it and then there was also the other terrorizing idea that I might accidentally slip up and kill a _human_. That was something I would surely spend the rest of eternity hating myself for, so it was simply not an option.

We were running now, away from any kind of civilization so I had almost no chance of slipping up on my very first hunt. I was allowing Edward to lead because he knew his surroundings a bit better than I did, not to say that I wasn't more aware of them after my recent change, but I also liked the idea of Edward being the one to lead me to my first hunt as a vampire. I wasn't entirely sure why, but I liked it just the same.

"Bella," Edward called to me, "it's not as hard as you apparently think it is, love." Now he was laughing, great.

"Thanks a lot, Edward," I retorted sarcastically, "it really helps when you mock me like that."

I hadn't meant for him to take my comment so seriously, but he stopped in his tracks and stared at me with a genuinely apologetic look on his face. I chuckled to myself as I turned around, "Edward, I was only kidding," I smiled at him, reaching out my hand for him to take it. Slowly, Edward stepped forward to take my hand, almost as if he were embarrassed that he had been caught being so gullible. This only made me laugh harder.

"I don't see what is so funny, love."

"You're adorable when you're embarrassed," I explained as we took off running deeper into the forest. I was fairly certain we weren't anywhere near Forks anymore.

After a few more minutes of running, we came to a stop. Edward gave me a look that was supposed to be some sort of signal, "What?" I asked, clearly not understanding the signal.

"This is the part where you let your instincts take over…"

"Oh," I closed my eyes and took deep breaths to clear my mind. After about one and a half of these breaths, I was able to pick up the scent of something that smelled almost sweet. It was a warm scent and completely satisfying. No sooner had I registered the scent then I opened my eyes and found myself sprinting at top speed towards the appetizing scent. I didn't even have time to register what kind of animal I was draining.

When I was finished with this animal, I stepped back, wiping my mouth off with my sleeve. My first kill had been a mountain lion, figures. I was laughing again as I turned back to Edward. He was looking at me with an amazed expression, "Aren't you thirsty, too?" I asked, snapping him out of his daze. With that, we were both able to pick up on the scent of a herd of deer a short distance away. Because I was in a happy mood, I decided to race him there. He won, of course, but it was still fun anyways.

After I had almost completely satisfied my thirst on several more deer and a bear, I walked over to Edward, taking his hand, "What now?"

"We can do whatever you'd like, love," he smiled my favorite crooked smile at me. I couldn't help but to stretch up onto my tippy toes and kiss him. I had only meant for it to be a quick peck, but the way his lips responded to mine, increased the intensity of the kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and entwined my fingers into his hair, pulling me impossibly closer to him.

Seconds later, Edward pulled away, resting his forehead on mine as we both gasped for breath.

"Let's do that again," I murmured seductively, trying to kiss him again. Unfortunately, Edward was more in control of himself than I thought.

"Bella," he sighed, "As much as I would like for this to continue, there are a few things that need to happen first." He was being cryptic again and I was confused…and frustrated.

"Like what kind of things," I demanded, my lower lip sticking out in a pout.

Edward laughed gently, stroking his finger across my bottom lip. He knew what he was doing to me. When his tempting actions did not stop, I groaned and pulled away from him altogether. I needed to clear my head and there was no way that was going to happen while I was still physically touching him. At least, not with the way he was behaving.

"Edward?" I pressed.

"First, and most importantly, we need to get back to my house and go over what we are going to tell Charlie…"

I gasped. I had forgotten about Charlie and Renee and Phil and all my other human friends and acquaintances, let alone what the Cullens were going to say regarding what had happened to me.

"What are we going to tell them?" I asked in an almost inaudible whisper even to myself.

Edward stepped forward, gently taking my hand in his, pulling me slightly and indicating that we were going to head back to his house. He wasn't going to tell me right now, at least not before he had consulted more with the rest of the family.

We ran hand in hand back to the Cullen mansion in silence.

As we approached, I saw Alice waiting for us at the edge of the forest. I smiled at her warmly.

"Ready?" she asked. I nodded as the three of us entered the house at vampire speed.

The entire family was seated at the dining room table where, I had previously assumed that this room was designed for diplomatic purposes rather than dining. Edward dragged me onto his lap as he sat down and I smiled at him. It was an odd feeling to actually be able to take part in one of these meetings. It was a completely different feeling to actually be present at one of these meetings and know that your opinion actually mattered and carried some weight. If I had been here as a human I was sure I would have been listened to, but I doubted whether my words would actually be considered. I was glad that we were all equal now. Especially Edward and I. There was nothing I wanted more.

"We're here because we all need to pitch in with fabricating a cover story for Bella's sudden change," Carlisle began.

"Well, obviously we can't send her home," Rosalie scoffed. I glance across the table at her. I wasn't surprised she had said this, but it was the tone in which she had said it that had bothered me. I was hurt that, even after everything all of us had gone through in the last few days, she could still have the audacity to talk about me with so much venom and hatred in her voice. I was even more surprised when a very faint growl rippled through my mouth. I hadn't realized that my emotions were that strong, but I was sure Jasper had.

Everyone, except Rosalie looked at me in shock. Emmett was glaring at me for having just growled at his wife and I gave him an apologetic smile which seemed to appease him.

I felt Jasper's calming waves and welcomed them gladly. When I felt I was calm enough to think rationally or at least coherently again, I gave Jasper a small nod which he returned.

"Now," he began with his faint southern drawl, "I think our best course of action is to fake some kind of car wreck. It would be the easiest and most efficient way of explaining Bella's disappearance."

"We'd have to leave within a few weeks, too," Alice spoke up. She was way ahead of everyone else, but her confidence was reassuring; Jasper's idea was, in fact, the best. If it wasn't, Alice would have said something.

The rest of the 'family meeting' went well in the sense that we had determined when and where we would stage our (mine and Edward's) fatal car wreck. Edward volunteered himself as a victim as well because he claimed he couldn't even think about the possibility of my dying in a car crash, fake or otherwise. He whispered to me that his reasoning was that he simply couldn't live without me; if the car accident had killed only me, it would mean Edward would have to go to school without me and that was something that, now after everything we'd been through, was something utterly unbearable for him.

When the details of the fake car accident were nailed down, I thought we would all at least briefly go over what were going to tell Charlie and Renee, but I was surprised that everyone was rising from their seats and slowly leaving the room.

"What are we going to tell Charlie?" I asked abruptly and urgently. Thankfully, no one had made it very far out of the room yet. Everyone returned to the dining room and looked at me questioningly, "We need to have something believable to tell Charlie at the very least. Renee doesn't have to be told immediately, but Charlie has to know about the 'accident' as soon as possible…I don't want him to worry any more than necessary. He's probably been worried out of his mind…" my train of thought halted abruptly when I realized that I had been gone for a week. Charlie was definitely worried. Renee more than likely knows about my disappearance now, too. Charlie would have told her.

"It's alright, Bella," Alice whispered soothingly, taking my hand, "I had called Charlie a few days ago, right after you had been bitten," Edward stiffened beneath me at the mention of me being bitten, "and told him that you had come with Edward and I to LA for a few days on a shopping spree. Edward had only tagged along because he'd lost a bet," Alice winked at me, "…Now, of course, the story has changed a bit."

I hated that Alice sounded so cheerful, but Alice will be Alice.

"But what are we going to tell him _now_," I pressed. I had to know.

"We'll tell him that you were riding back up to Forks with Edward in his car…" Esme was trying her best to sound sympathetic and reassuring at the same time, but I could still hear the sadness that was hidden in her voice; she didn't like this idea any more than I did, but it was necessary. "It was raining and nighttime and the road was particularly wet and dark when Edward lost control of the vehicle and rolled over at least three times down a hill off the shoulder and only stopped when the car hit a tree. Both of you were killed on impact."

I gulped. I didn't like lying to Charlie, but it was necessary. Now, especially, it was necessary to lie to him about my and apparently Edward's deaths so no one would be in danger of breaching the secrecy of the existence of vampires. I nodded my acceptance of this cover story and vaguely felt Edward grasp my hand and squeeze gently in comfort.

"Want to go up to my room?" he asked, "You seem to be in shock; it might be easier for you to process this privately."

Again, I nodded and allowed myself to be dragged up the stairs to Edward's room. I was faintly surprised that he hadn't tried to carry me up the stairs. This was the one time I wouldn't have minded.

I stopped in the doorway at the sight of his room. It had changed, "Since when do you have a bed?" I asked in disbelief.

Edward looked at me sheepishly before he answered, "Alice saw some…things…" he didn't need to say any more. If he could still blush, he would be as red as a tomato.

"It's nice," I said in an attempt to make the situation less awkward. I walked over to the new bed and plopped myself down in the very center of it waiting for Edward to follow and sit beside me. There was nothing I wanted more right now than to be wrapped securely in his safe and comforting arms. Just because I seemed to be distracted by the new, very comfortable bed didn't mean I wasn't still in shock about what the rest of the Cullens – probably Carlisle – needed to tell Charlie about the 'car accident'. I was still processing.

Edward must have seen the desperation in my eyes that I was trying so hard not to show, "Bella, love, please tell me what I can do…"

"Nothing at the moment," I whispered, looking into his golden eyes, "I just want you to hold me."

Edward responded quickly by wrapping his strong arms around me. I was safe.

We must have sat like that for hours. We both remained silent and completely still for the most part; Edward had rocked me gently a few times in attempts to further comfort me.

We had been so engrossed in ourselves and our own thoughts that I hadn't heard Carlisle knocking lightly on the closed door and walking into Edward's room when he didn't get a response.

"We're going to call Charlie now," he said softly, careful not to sound insensitive. His caution, however was unnecessary; Carlisle couldn't sound insensitive if he tried.

I blinked a few times trying to bring my mind back to the present and then nodded, "Ok. Thank you Carlisle," I tried to add a smile, but was unsure of how effective the attempt was.

"When are we going to start packing?" Edward asked, possibly pulling from Carlisle's thoughts.

"Well, I had hoped to leave within at least two weeks if not sooner. I just need to make sure Charlie is alright and then give some notice to the hospital that I plan on leaving."

"Thanks Carlisle…for looking out for Charlie…for everything," Carlisle's compassion was insurmountable and my words weren't nearly enough to express my gratitude. I felt Edward give me a gentle squeeze as we watched Carlisle leave the room.

When Carlisle had closed the door, I turned myself in Edward's arms to look at him, "This is hard," I whispered, cupping his face in my hand and shutting my eyes.

"I know, Bella. I'm so, so sorry you have to go through this. It isn't fair…"

"No, it's not, but life isn't fair," my eyes snapped open to search Edward's. His expression was one of love and sympathy and pain. I hated seeing him in pain because of me. My pain shouldn't affect him so, but then again, it was a testament to how strong our bond really was, "Edward, none of this is your fault. I wish we didn't have to tell Charlie like this, but I am so inexplicably happy right now; I get to spend the rest of forever with you. There's nothing I want more than I want you. Please believe that."

A smile broke across Edward's face as he leaned in to kiss me gently and then pulled away resting his forehead against mine.

"_Hello, Charlie…"_ I heard Carlisle speak into the phone downstairs, _"This is Carlisle Cullen…"_ before the conversation had gone any further, I was tugging Edward off the bed and leading him out of his room towards the staircase.

"I want to hear this," I said simply as we descended the stairs and made our way to the kitchen. Edward simply smiled sympathetically and apologetically and walked into the kitchen with me and took my hand.


	7. Chapter 7

"_I want to hear this," I said simply as we descended the stairs and made our way to the kitchen. Edward simply smiled sympathetically and apologetically and walked into the kitchen with me and took my hand._

"_Oh Carlisle, please tell me you have good news. Bella was supposed to be back from LA last night. I don't have any idea where she is…!"_ Charlie was clearly going crazy with worry. I wanted to cry right now so badly. Even though I couldn't cry anymore, I still felt a sort of lump in my throat. I turned to bury my face in Edward's chest to try to stifle my inevitable sobs.

"Unfortunately, Charlie," Carlisle began, "I don't have good news…"

"_What happened?" _Charlie was terrified. This was going to kill him. The only good thing to come out of this was that he would be safe from any further exposure to the vampire world whether his exposure be conscious or not. 'Charlie is safe…' I kept repeating this to myself in my mind throughout the conversation and still not missing one word, _"Carlisle, no disrespect or anything, but if that boy of yours did something to my baby girl I will have him arrested."_ Charlie would, too.

"Unfortunately, Charlie, Bella and Edward were killed in a car accident on their way home from LA," I felt Edward stiffen as he wrapped his arms around me tighter and kissed my head. This was obviously very hard for him as well.

I could almost see Charlie's jaw drop in shock, _"Oh my god, Carlisle. I had no idea. I'm so sorry…is Alice alright? Wasn't she with them? Is she hurt?" _the words rushed out of Charlie's mouth and then stopped abruptly. I knew the news had finally clicked in his brain, _"Bella…is…gone?" _he asked weakly, _"She's dead…?"_

"I'm afraid so, Charlie. And Alice is just fine; only a broken arm and a few scratches." Carlisle sighed deeply, the intensity if this conversation couldn't be very easy for him either, "Charlie, I'm so sorry for your loss. The rest of my family and I are deeply sorry for what happened and offer you our condolences."

"_My baby girl is…gone" _Charlie was breaking down now and I felt terrible, but there was no going back now. I couldn't just magically appear on his doorstep shouting, 'Here I am, Daddy! I didn't actually get in a car accident and die; I was actually turned into a vampire…just like Edward and the rest of his family.'

"I'm so sorry Charlie. I there anything me or my family can do?"

"_No, I mean, you have enough on your own plate with losing Edward as well. Thank you for telling me and I am very sorry for your loss as well. I suppose I'll see you at the funeral…goodbye, Carlisle. Thank you for telling me and I'm very sorry." _Charlie's voice cracked noticeably just before he hung up the phone. I clung to Edward as I began to sob. By tomorrow night, Charlie will have called Renee telling her the awful news and then all my ties to the human world will have been severed. I was ecstatic about my new freedom to be able to spend the rest of eternity with Edward, but right now, the reality of never being able to see my parents or extended family or even my friends again was just too real and too raw at the moment, so I needed a release.

Edward was strong enough for the both of us on the outside as he stroked my back and hair and placed periodic kisses on the top of my head, but I knew him better than that. I knew that on the inside he was beating himself up and probably tearing himself apart for having _let_ this happen to me.

"Bella," Edward whispered in my ear, "we could go somewhere, you know…we could leave before –"

"No, Edward, I want to stay here, with _our family_ until after the funerals," I looked him right in the eye, surprised that I was able to sound so convincing with his golden eyes staring back into my still crimson ones; usually my words would turn into an incoherent string of mush when he gazed at me like this with such intensity, "We're going to leave Forks as a _family_."

Edward gave me a pained look but quickly wiped it away and sighed, "Alright. Are you sure you want to stick around here, though? We're going to have to stay inside and basically hide while everyone else goes about their daily lives until after the funerals and we've decided where we're going..."

I giggled at him and tried my best to give him a seductive look, "Why do you make having the house completely to ourselves all day sound like such a bad thing…?"

Edward caught my drift and laughed a short laugh before pulling me back into his arms and planted a chaste, but passionate kiss on my lips. It was the kind of kiss I never wanted to end, but, like all good things, it did.

We both probably heard Alice walk in, but only Edward did anything about it. He turned to face his sister and I noticed a stern look on his face, probably in response to the genuinely sympathetic look on hers, "Sorry to interrupt," she said softly, "But I thought you'd like to know that arrangements for your 'funerals' have been made. They're going to be two weeks from Tuesday. We'll be leaving Forks the following Monday"

"Thanks, Alice, " I said, making my way over to my best friend and embracing her in a hug, "I don't think I could have done this without the help and unconditional support of such a loving caring family," I was whispering this in Alice's ear but was positive that Edward had heard every word I'd said. And I meant every word. If it weren't for them, and especially Edward, I would be dead by now…several times over. Edward was my reason for being and there was no denying that.

"You never have to thank any of us, Bella, you should know that by now," she returned my embrace and smiled, "I'll leave you two…alone…we'll probably be downstairs when you guys feel like coming down," With that, Alice walked back out of the room and closed the door and I turned back to Edward, walking back into his always welcoming embrace.

"You know," I whispered into his ear, "I meant every word."

"While I have some difficulty believing that, I thank you," I rolled my eyes at him and made my way over to the bed and seated myself in the middle.

"I really wish you wouldn't doubt my love for you, Edward," I was trying to hide the small trace of pain in my eyes, but I knew he'd picked up on it, "I love you more than anything I've ever had. You're the only one I've ever loved and the only one I ever will love. That's a promise."

Edward sighed as he sat down beside me taking one of my hands in his, "I really wish I could be better for you, Bella."

"There is no one in this universe that is better for me than you," I murmured. I was beginning to get slightly miffed that he constantly doubted my love for him and even his love for me. I couldn't hide the hurt anymore, so I looked away from him and became suddenly very interested in the patterns on the golden comforter that was on the bed.

"Bella," he was tracing my hand with faint, comforting circles, desperately trying to regain eye contact with me, "if it weren't for me and my kind, you'd still be human right now. I never wanted this life of torture for you, never."

"If it weren't for you, Edward I'd be six feet under!" Edward's words had forced my eyes back to his, but I wanted him to see the hurt they held right at this moment. In my mind he had just told me he wished I were the fragile human he'd fallen in love with, "I'm so glad I get to spend eternity with you. There's nothing I've ever wanted more! You know that! It kills me to think that you would rather me be human, and leave me to grow old someday and die. Well, news flash, Edward, I'm _not human anymore_ so you're just going to have to get over it. You are perfect for me in every single way. I wish you could see that…" I was on the verge of dry tears but I was torn as to whether I should storm out of the room in anger or if I should collapse into his arms again and cry.

After a few seconds, my mind was made up for me when Edward had thought his words through and proceeded to wrap his arms around me tightly and began to rock me back and forth on his bed, kissing the top of my head every few seconds. This was the final straw; I broke down and cried. I wasn't sure if it was for the fact that he had finally heard what I had been telling him from day one or if it was for the fact that all my emotions had just gone past the breaking point and I realized that I needed his comfort more than I would ever need anybody else's. At this point, I didn't care; I was here now in Edward's arms crying for everything I had lost and everything I had gained as well.

I had lost track of time, but after what seemed like days, my crying seemed to stop and I was suddenly aware that Edward had been stroking my back and kissing the top of my head the entire time. I couldn't help but smile; Edward really was perfect.

"Bella, would you like to go back to the meadow?"

"Not today, Edward," I smiled warmly at him to let him know I wasn't mad at him anymore, "I kind of want to spend the rest of the day with our family." 

"That's perfectly fine, love. Just please say you forgive me. I'm sorry for being so incredibly stupid and blind in not noticing the strength of what we have. I'm sorry for ever doubting you…"

I had to cut him off, so I kissed him with every ounce of love and passion I could muster. He needed to know he was forgiven after all, "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you, too," was his reply as he took my hand again and led us towards the door to where the rest of our family was waiting.

We had barely stepped into the living room when Alice and Emmett walked in from the kitchen grinning like five-year-olds.

"What's going on…?" I asked cautiously. Judging from the look Emmett was giving me, it seemed like he was about to tackle me to the ground. I not-so-gracefully shifted my body so Edward was between me and Emmett.

"It's ok, love," Edward said in amusement, "they just want to go and play baseball; it's supposed to start storming in about an hour."

"You really think that's a great idea given what happened last time," I asked no one in particular. I got varied responses ranging from booming laughter from Emmett, a sympathetic smile from Alice and a distinct growl from Edward and even Rosalie, who was just now entering the room behind Emmett, taking his hand. I figured her reason for growling was very different from Edward's, considering she still hated me for whatever reason.

"There aren't any other vampires around this time, Bella," Alice told me in reassurance, "I checked."

I sighed and Edward and I made our way toward the garage, Edward stopped first at a small coat rack in the main doorway to grab me a jacket and a hat as well as one for himself. Within seconds, we were in the garage climbing into Edward's Volvo. Apparently Carlisle and Esme were going to join us in the Volvo and everyone else was going to pile into Emmett's Jeep seeing as these were the two most durable of the Cullen cars. I didn't think Rosalie would appreciate in much if someone were to go off-roading with her precious baby. Although, I was surprised Edward was so willing to get his baby so dirty, too.

We reached the baseball clearing in record time and everyone piled out of their cars. Carlisle and Esme headed over to the Jeep to help get the bases, bats and balls out of the trunk while Edward, ever the gentleman, helped me out of his car and took my hand as we sauntered over to the spot where home plate would be.

"Can I actually play this time?" I asked Edward. I didn't really care about playing; I just wanted to distract him from becoming all self-deprecating on me. I didn't want him to blame himself for me being changed before he had planned to do so himself…that is, _if_ he had ever planned to at all…

"Of course, love…if you want to play, that is," Edward smiled at me, my plan seemed to have worked, so I decided to push my luck just a bit further.

"Can I be on your team?" I leaned into his strong, muscular chest and almost allowed our lips to meet, but not quite.

"Hmmmm…" Edward hummed. Wow, I never knew I could dazzle Edward…

"Alright, you two," Alice called. Where had she come from?

"What?"

"You know what," she grinned at me and then turned her attention to the rest of the family, "It's going to be myself, Emmett, Jazz, and Esme against Edward, Bella Carlisle and Rosalie. We bat first," with a smug smile, Alice moved to pick up a bat from the ground.

"How is that fair!" Rosalie protested, "You get to pick teams _and _bat first?" As entertained as I was by the fact that this was a first grade argument, I had to agree with her.

"Easy," Alice replied, "we played rock paper scissors for it and obviously, you lost." Of course…stupid psychic pixie.

The game was possibly one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. I loved the way it felt to run around and use all of my new speed and strength without reservations and to be able to watch the rest of my family do the same. I felt like an equal with them for the first time and I loved it. Despite how much I loved playing, we still lost, but not for the lack of trying; we put up a good fight and only lost 7-8. I was quite pleased with my performance considering the fact that it was my first time playing and that about a week prior, I was the klutziest human to ever walk the earth.

"You did well today, love," Edward said to me on our way back to his house. The others had decided to go hunting and bring Emmett's Jeep back later.

I laughed at his comment, "Were you expecting me to trip and fall or something?" I was only teasing him, but I still saw an apology cross Edward's eyes, "Edward, I'm kidding! Thanks. It was nice to finally experience it. I had fun."

"I'm glad," Edward leaned across the center console for a soft kiss.

I pulled away, still worried that he'd get us killed because he didn't pay nearly enough attention to the road, "Edward, you're going to get us killed."

"Oh, right. Sorry love," Edward replied, his eyes back on the road, as he took my hand instead, but not before I saw him roll his eyes at my obviously unnecessary worrying.

We had the house to ourselves for a while, so Edward decided to sweep me away into the living room and play his piano for me. I was surprised at how little I remembered of my lullaby. It took me almost three quarters into the beautiful song for me to even recognize it.

"What's wrong, love?" Edward asked when he noticed my disappointment.

"It's nothing," I murmured.

"Clearly it's not nothing," he had stopped playing now and turned to face me completely, his eyes meeting mine, "Tell me…please?"

I still couldn't refuse him when he gazed into my eyes like that, "It's just that it took me nearly that whole song for me to even recognize what you were just playing…" if I could still cry, I would be.

"Oh, love," Edward whispered into my hair as he wrapped his arms around me tightly, "that was your lullaby."

"I know that now…It just breaks my heart that I couldn't remember it…"

"It's alright, Bella. Our human memories fade…it's normal…"

"I know, I just feel awful that I couldn't remember it."

"I'll play it for you for the rest of eternity, if it helps…" I laughed lightly at that. I knew he wasn't kidding.

"You don't have to; I recognize it now…it would be nice to hear it more often, though."

"Of course, love." With that, Edward leaned down to plant a chaste kiss on my lips and then resumed playing my lullaby. I leaned against his shoulder with my arm wrapped around his waist and closed my eyes in attempt to lose myself in the music.

I must have been listening to him play for hours, because the next time I opened my eyes, it was dark outside.

"What time is it?"

The music immediately stopped, "It's a little after two," Edward replied. I could tell this was the first time he's paid attention to time since we'd gotten home and I noticed that he was also shocked.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, looking around. I couldn't see anyone else and I couldn't hear anyone else moving around either. It was quiet. Any other time, I would have loved the quietness in the house, but we were only expecting to be alone like this for two, maybe three hours, max. Now that I was thinking about it, Edward and I had been alone now for a good eight or ten hours.

I looked back at Edward who appeared to be straining to hear his family's thoughts anywhere nearby, then I saw something cross his eyes that vaguely resembled worry and panic.

"They've been gone too long," it was a statement of fact. Edward nodded his head in confirmation and that's when I knew something was dreadfully wrong.


	8. Chapter 8

"_They've been gone too long," it was a statement of fact. Edward nodded his head in confirmation and that's when I knew something was dreadfully wrong._

Before I could think about the possibilities of what could be wrong, I felt Edward pulling me to my feet. We were all out running by the time we were out the door.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we ran.

"Back to the baseball field," Edward responded, his voice filled with urgency, "We need to follow their scent; it's the fastest way to find them."

It only took us about ten minutes to get back to the baseball field. The first thing I noticed when we returned was the fact that Emmett's Jeep was still there, which only made me worry more that the rest of our family might be hurt…or worse…I couldn't even think about that now…

"Edward," We had been running in silence and I had noticed his tense posture the second we stepped back into the clearing. He was scaring me, "Edward, please tell me what's wrong. You're scaring me."

"I don't exactly know, Bella. I'm sorry," Edward was still tense, but he did pull me a bit closer to him to give me hand a reassuring squeeze, "We have to hurry though; follow their scent while it's still fresh. It seems as if they were travelling together, though, so we won't have to split up."

I wasn't originally even considering splitting up; the fact that Edward was even considering the idea worried me, but I was glad we wouldn't have to.

I took a second to relax as much as I could and then proceeded to let my new vampire senses take over. I closed my eyes and inhaled through my nose. Alice's scent was strongest to me, second to Edward's, of course, so I decided to concentrate on that.

"They must have gone north," I whispered.

"Come on," We were both on a mission now, to find our family.

We noticed that they all had in fact gone hunting, but clearly, they'd fallen prey to something else, which was keeping them from returning home.

We had been running and following their scent for several miles now and I realized that I vaguely knew my surroundings. I must have been here a lot when I was a human.

After several more minutes of running, Edward, who had been holding my hand as we ran, suddenly stopped dead and threw his hand out to stop me as well.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"We can't go any further." 

"What are you talking about, Edward?" I was utterly confused now. The only reason I could see that would cause us to stop was if Emmett, Carlisle, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper had jumped off a cliff and into the ocean that was several hundred yards ahead of us, which seemed highly unlikely. We were by no means at a dead end though; their scent wasn't gone; we just had to keep following it into the forest to our right. I was confused and anxious to find my family.

"No, Bella. We really can't go any further," Edward's voice was a mixture of anxiety, panic and authority. I had never seen him like this.

"Why?"

"Do you know where we are, Bella?" he pulled me into his arms now and held me in a cautious embrace. I was beginning to get the feeling that something was closing in on us.

I shook my head, searching his face for any clues. I was really scared now, not only for my family's safety, but also for Edward's. I didn't care so much what happened to me, but if anything happened to Edward…I just couldn't bear it…

"La Push," Oh. That's why the area was so familiar.

"But why…?" I was beginning to feel slightly stupid now for not knowing something that, to Edward, was so blatantly obvious.

"That's the boundary line, Bella," Edward nodded his head toward the forest. I was certain there was no tangible line dividing the Cullen's territory and Quileute lands, but I could most definitely _smell_ the difference. Now that my senses were drastically improved, I could smell some kind of revolting odor that reminded me of wet dog…disgusting…how could I have not noticed that as a human?

"Well everyone else seemed to have no problem with crossing it," I told him, "Although I can't imagine why, with that stink…" Edward managed to grin at this, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"They didn't cross willingly, believe me, love. But we're about to have some company." Edward's gaze was fixed on the forest in front of us, right where the stink was the strongest.

After a few seconds of staring into the blackness of the forest, I could hear low growls, one of which was coming from Edward. I almost fell over from shock at what I saw emerging from the brush several hundred yards in front of us.

"What are they?" I asked Edward, staring at the over-sized wolves that were now standing in front of us; three of them, the size of horses. One black, another gray, and the third was a russet color. It looked familiar, but I was one hundred percent positive I had never seen anything like this in my human life, let alone my life as a vampire.

"Technically speaking, they're shape-shifters, but the majority of our kind considers them werewolves," Edward then turned to face the wolves, "If you want me to answer your questions and accusations, at least one of you is going to have to phase."

As soon as Edward spoke, the black wolf disappeared into the trees again and not ten seconds later, a man appeared wearing a pair of jeans that had been ripped off at the knee. He appeared to be a Native American, a Quileute.

"Sam," Edward growled, "what happened was out of our control. We had nothing to do with it." Was he referring to the fact that I was now a vampire?

"Edward," I whispered, squeezing Edward's hand gently, keeping him from sinking into fight-mode, "what's going on?" I could sense that this situation was very close to getting out of hand and I would do anything to keep it from turning into a fight; I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that, if it got to that, Edward and I would lose. This idea would be a whole lot easier if Edward would relax a bit, because I was only barely keeping myself from sinking into a defensive stance myself, what with my being a crazy, uncontrollable newborn (at least according to Jasper and Emmett).

Edward didn't look at me when he answered me for fear that if he took his eyes off the wolves and Sam for even half a second, they would come flying at me, "They think we broke the treaty. They knew something was up when you and I 'died' last week."

"So, what, they _kidnapped_ the rest of our family in order to get answers from _us_?" I was furious now, snarling at the wolves. Edward wrapped his arm around my waist in reassurance.

"More like proof, but yes, kidnapping appears to be exactly what they did," Edward went back to talking to Sam now, "Why don't you let my family go and Bella and I will explain the situation to you?"

Sam looked as if he was considering what Edward had suggested and then spoke, "I would rather you come with us."

Edward growled viciously at Sam and held me tighter to him.

"Edward," I pulled his face down so I could look him in the eye, to get him to calm down, "we have to get the rest of our family back. We should just do what they want. I don't care how bad they smell." Edward nodded stiffly and I kissed him lightly on the forehead and smiled.

"Alright, but I would greatly appreciate it if the rest of you pack could phase back into their human forms; for our safety and your own."

Sam didn't appear to particularly like Edward's terms, but nodded. The other two wolves backed into the forest and then appeared again in human form, wearing jeans ripped off at the knee, much like Sam's.

When I looked at the other two people before me, I realized why one of the wolves seemed so familiar. I swear, my dead heart died a little more when I finally put two and two together, "_No_," I whispered, "Jake…"

Before I knew what I was doing, I found myself in a low crouch, growling and snarling fiercely at my now former best friend, "Jacob, how could you?"

"Bella, love, this isn't the time or place for this," Edward was now the one pulling me up to get me to calm down.

"I don't care. He was my _best friend_ and then he went and _kidnapped _our family!"

I noticed Jacob's expression was torn; he didn't know what to do, "Bells, listen, I'm sorry. I didn't really have a choice," he decided to speak, a lot of good that would do him.

"It's _Bella_ to you, Jacob Black. You could have called and said you and your _pack of dogs _needed to talk to us. Why in God's name would you kidnap anyone?"

"I couldn't call you, Bella; we all thought you were dead!"

"The Cullens were still in the area. Why not double check with them if you were so suspicious!" I spat.

"That's what we're doing. Right. Now."

Edward decided it was time to go, "Bella, let's go. We need to go with them and sort this out. It's going to get out of hand otherwise."

"They kidnapped our family, Edward! Just to get to us! How can you possibly be taking this so well?"

Edward wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close to him and whispering into my ear, "I'm furious, love, but it will only get worse if you keep yelling and screaming. I don't mean to be treating you like a child, but Bella, love, think about it. You need to calm down. Trust me," Edward was now gazing into my eyes. For a split second, I was mad at him for attempting to act like my father, but his apology and his topaz gaze made my anger and stubbornness melt away as usual. I leaned into him, expecting and receiving a quick, gentle kiss before taking his hand and allowing myself to be led forward onto Quileute lands.

Edward led me past the Jacob and the other wolf, whose name was apparently Paul. I couldn't help but hiss as we walked past. Sam, who was in front of us, paid no attention to my involuntary noise of aggression.

We ran – slowly – for about ten minutes until we came upon a small, but homey cabin in the forest only a few miles off the main highway into La Push. I could remember some of the area vaguely, but this cabin was entirely new to me. I was uncomfortable with all these new things in one day, but I would have to deal with them.

Edward brought me to a stop in the middle of the driveway, clearly not wanting to go inside unless it was absolutely necessary, "Alright, Sam," he said, "we're here, now let my family go."

Jacob snickered from behind us and I spun around to glare at him.

"Oh, come on, Bella, you and your bloodsucker make it sound like we were torturing them," I hissed at his insult, "You know we wouldn't do that."

"Oh don't I?" I retorted, "I honestly wouldn't put it past you. After all, you did _kidnap_ them."

That shut Jacob up. I thought I heard him mutter something like _touché_ but even with my vampire hearing I wasn't positive.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam nod towards a girl who was standing in the window watching. She turned and disappeared into the house. After a few seconds, the front door opened and my immense relief, my family exited the house. Alice was the first out and the first one to reach Edward and I.

"Nothing happened," she told me while pulling me into a hug, "they just brought us here for us to answer some questions. I promise." I nodded and released her.

"You could have just called us," Edward was speaking to Carlisle.

"They were being impatient. And I couldn't see the harm in it at the time," Carlisle explained, "I'm sorry for causing you to worry."

"Carlisle," I said, "its fine now. You should just get home and we'll answer their questions quickly."

With that, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice retreated back into the forest. I suspected that they wouldn't actually go back home, but wait for us at the border, but that wasn't my primary concern right now. I just wanted to answer the wolves' questions and get home as quickly as possible.

"Right," Sam spoke up when the rest of the Cullens were out of sight, "You know what this means, don't you, bloodsucker?" he was speaking to Edward, referring to the treaty, I assumed.

"The treaty has not been broken."

"At least not by them," I scoffed under my breath. Edward heard me, though and squeezed my hand as a warning that my remarks would not help the situation here.

"She is no longer human, how was it not broken?" Jacob was getting impatient.

"The Cullens weren't the ones who bit me, Jacob. In fact, they were trying to prevent it." Jacob shrank back at my explanation and looked to Sam, waiting for him to decide what was to happen next.

"Alright," Sam agreed, but not before studying mine and Edward's faces as though he were waiting for our expressions to tell him that we were lying, "The treaty has not been broken," I sighed in relief, "We also apologize for acting so hastily."

"Apology accepted. We'll be going now," Edward was clearly ready to get home. We weren't able to very far, though, when he growled and pulled me to his side and stopped, "Someone wants to talk to you," he said to me.

"Who?" I turned around slowly to see Jacob coming after us, "Fine. It shouldn't take too long, Edward. Wait for me at the border?" Edward nodded and kissed me gently on the forehead before turning towards the forest and back to the treaty line. I made sure he was completely out of my sight before I turned towards Jacob.

"What do you want?" I asked. I hadn't meant for my tone to be so harsh, but I wanted to get home, too, and talk with my family.

"You're supposed to be dead," he said, bluntly.

"And…"

"And what, Bella? How am I supposed to react to the fact that instead of being dead, your bloodsucker boyfriend has turned to one of them?"

"Jacob. Stop. Stop it right now. We just told you that it wasn't one of them who bit me. And stop calling them…and me for that matter…bloodsuckers. I thought you were better than that!" I turned around angrily taking a few steps towards where Edward had disappeared into the forest.

"Bella wait!"

"_What_?" I hissed.

"Just talk to me. Please? This might be the last time we'll see each other…ever…I want what we have to at least end on a good note…"

"Jake, you kidnapped my family. How is that reconcilable?"

"Because…" he hedged. What was he getting at?

"Spit it out, Jake."

"Because I…because I love you, Bella. I love you." I was shocked. I hadn't seen that one coming at all.


	9. Chapter 9

"_Spit it out, Jake."_

"_Because I…because I love you, Bella. I love you." I was shocked. I hadn't seen that one coming at all._

I could hear Edward's faint growl from a few miles away. At least he was still at the treaty line and not racing back here to surely tear Jake to shreds, "Jake…" I started before I realized I had no idea what to say to him.

"It's ok, Bella, you don't have to say anything right now. You just needed to know."

"What am I supposed to do now, Jake? I'm a _vampire_ now. We're sworn enemies. You could kill me. Not to mention I'm very much in love with Edward," Why did he have to choose now to confess his love to me? It's not like I hadn't picked up on it before, but his timing really sucked, "Jake, I love you, too, but not in the way you obviously love me. You're my best friend and I'm so glad that I have you…but, no offense, your timing really sucks, and, unfortunately, even if you had better timing, it probably wouldn't have changed anything…"

"I know my timing is awful, Bells, but, like I said, you needed to know," Jacob was smiling now despite the fact that I was probably tearing his heart to shreds, "And I even think that we could get away with still being best friends…at the very least," with that, he turned to look at me, his gaze hopeful.

I sighed, unable to keep myself from smiling, "I don't know, Jake. Are you sure we could be friends? What with the treaty and the fact that your sole purpose is to kill me and not to mention the fact you smell awful…" I had to lighten the mood somehow.

When he laughed, I couldn't help but smile, "Really, Bells? You smell just as bad as you think I do," I had to laugh along with him at this point, "But yeah, seriously, I think we can still be friends. We'll just have to figure out some neutral ground where we could hang without being in danger of breaking the treaty."

I missed this side of Jacob. I hadn't seen much of him lately and realized he must have been harboring this crush or whatever you want to call it for quite a while, "I think that's doable…" I didn't have the heart to tell him that the Cullens and I were leaving town in a little less than a month.

"Good," he smiled.

"Well, Jake," I said awkwardly after a few seconds, "I should be heading back. We have some…um…planning to do. You know, for the 'funerals.'"

"Oh, right. Should I go?"

I considered it for a second. Charlie would really appreciate it if he and Billy were there. They were probably all he'd have left after this, "Yeah. Charlie would like that," I hesitated for a second, "Do you think you could look out for him for me? I mean, I can't exactly see him ever again…at least not with him knowing anyways. It would be nice to know how he's doing…"

"Of course I can do that, Bells," he smiled at me and then made a moved to come toward me, his eyes asking me if it were ok. I nodded and he stepped closer and wrapped me in a hug.

I breathed in, hugging him back, "I'm really going to miss you, Jake."

"You make it sound like it's good-bye; don't make this be so final. We'll hang out every once in a while," he said, still holding me in his embrace. I could faintly smell fresh salty tears. Was he crying?

"Jake…?"

He laughed, knowing what I was going to say, "…I'm not crying…" stubborn…

"As much as I would like to stay here, Jake, could you let go of me…you kind of smell…" I grinned at him as he released me.

"Whatever, Bells. You don't smell so great either," he smiled, "But I'll let you get back to your – back to _him_."

"Thanks, Jake. Call me?" He only nodded.

"Sure, sure. You better get going, Bells…he'll be worried…" his voice sounded sad as I turned away from him and ran off into the forest towards Edward.

It only took me a minute or two to reach the treaty line running at full speed. When I approached, I saw Edward leaning against a tree trying to appear non-chalant. He and I both knew he had been listening in, "Alright, Edward. I know you were listening," he tried to give me an innocent look, but I shook my head at him, approaching him slowly.

When I finally reached him, Edward quickly wrapped me in his arms and buried his head in my hair as if we had been apart for much longer than fifteen minutes.

"Bella," he whispered, gazing into my eyes now, "I was so worried."

"Edward, I was fine," I was trying to convince him with my eyes that I was telling the truth. I really was fine with Jacob. It was now that I was having trouble with. I didn't like the fact that I had just lied to Jake, but I didn't have the heart to tell him that we were all leaving very soon.

"What about now?" Sometimes I doubted if he actually couldn't read my mind.

"I'll manage," I promised, turning my eyes away from his. He was too quick, though. He gently grasped my chin and pulled my face back up so he could gaze into my eyes.

"Bella, please tell me…"

"I just feel bad for telling him that I'd be around when I won't be. We're leaving in less than a month…"

"Oh, love," he leaned down to kiss me lightly, "you'll still be able to see him after we leave…if you want to…"

"But how?" I asked.

"You're a _vampire_ now, love. You can run super fast and don't have to sleep," he said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You can get to places much faster and make it seem like we never left."

"That might work," I began, thinking it over, "…but only for a few times…I'm eventually going to have to tell him."

"It's not like he doesn't know that you'll have to leave sometime. He understands that we have to move around to keep people from getting suspicious. He is in a similar predicament now…he's not constantly bloodthirsty, but he's not going to age for probably a very long time."

I sighed. Edward was right, "I guess you're right. I'm just afraid you'll think I don't love you. Right now I feel like I'm bending over backwards trying to keep Jake happy and I'm taking advantage of our love…"

He interrupted me with a kiss. Before I could get lost in the kiss, he pulled away so he could speak, "You're not taking advantage of me, love. Even if you were, I wouldn't mind because I would give you anything you wanted regardless of the consequences. In a way, I understand your situation with Jacob right now; he's the last tie you can hold on to from your human life without endangering us. He is your best friend."

"You're either forgetting or blocking out the fact that he pretty much just confessed his undying love to me."

"Maybe I am, but that doesn't change the way I feel about you or the way you feel about me, does it?"

"No…"

"Then we have nothing to worry about. Bella," he was searching my eyes again, "I will do anything for you, even now. I will give anything for you…regardless of the cost. I just _need _you to be happy."

I sighed, cupping his cheek in my hand, "Edward, I am so unbelievably happy…_right now_."

The smile on Edward's face was mind-blowing. In half a second, he had lifted me up and hoisted me onto his back and started running.

"Edward, I _can _run now…just as fast as you…if not faster…" I laughed.

"Just for old time's sake, please Bella?"

I didn't object anymore and let him run. He seemed to be running just for the sake of running. It was truly exhilarating.

After a few moments of riding on Edward's back as he ran, I noticed that the first rays of morning were beginning to light up the sky. Next, I noticed that we weren't any closer to home. In fact, I think we might even be further away, "Edward, where are we?"

"You'll see," he said simply and ran even faster as if he were racing time.

He ran and ran until I could feel the air around be getting thinner and slightly colder. I took a second to take in my surroundings and noticed we were headed up a mountain. Where? I had no idea, but the view from up here was spectacular.

It was only a few more seconds until Edward stopped. We had reached the tippy top of the mountain now and he let me down off his back gently, like he was afraid I would still fall over in a moment of clumsiness.

I looked at him questioningly as he took my hand, "I wanted to watch the sun rise with you," he explained, "I came across this place a few months ago while I was hunting. It made me think of you," he brought my hand to his lips and kissed it like a gentleman, "I knew I could never bring you up here as a human, so I promised myself if I ever did change you, this would be another one of _our spots_."

I didn't miss the fact that Edward had only said _if _he changed me, but I didn't want to dwell on that detail right now because the sunrise was beautiful. The sky was being lit up with millions of shades of pink and yellow and orange. Suddenly, the sun itself emerged over the horizon and chased away the remaining shadows from the night. I subconsciously glanced down at mine and Edward's entwined hands and noticed that, for the first time, mine was sparkling in the sunlight. I smiled at Edward, knowing that he noticed it too.

I couldn't help but giggle like a child as I examined the rest of my exposed skin that was now sparkling in the sunlight.

"You're beautiful," I heard Edward say. He was gazing at me with such love and devotion that I immediately leaned over and kissed him with all the passion and love my body could summon.

"I love you," I gasped when we broke apart for a brief second after having been making out for several minutes. I never wanted this moment to end.

"You have no idea how much I love you," was Edward's reply. Within seconds, Edward's lips were back on mine.

The next few days were fairly uneventful considering the active start to my new vampire life. I was thoroughly enjoying this time with my new family and especially with Edward. I could never get enough of him.

Despite my newly discovered euphoric stat, I couldn't quite block out the sadness that I knew was coming in just a week and a half now. I would have to officially cut all ties with my father, mother, friends and even Jake for the most part. I was quite depressing…

I was walking through the forest in Forks with Jake one day, in neutral territory, when he finally noticed my melancholy mood, "Bells, you're killing me here, what's wrong?"

I sighed. I didn't want to have to tell him we were leaving so soon; our friendship was somehow even better than it was before I had been turned into a vampire, "Jake…I need to tell you something…"

"What is it, Bells?" he was concerned now.

"We're leaving," I stopped and looked him directly in the eye, "Next week."

I saw shock cross Jake's face, followed by pain and sadness, "Oh."

"We can still hang out, though," I hedged, "I mean, it wouldn't happen as often, but we could set up meeting places…It's really up to you…"

"Bella, I'll always want you around. You know my feelings for you."

I was really hoping he _wouldn't _bring that up again. it was hard enough for me to tell him we were leaving without him telling me he loved me, "Jake…"

"I know, Bella, you love _him_," he still couldn't bring himself to say Edward's name, "But I'll take what I can get. I don't care if you're halfway across the country…or even halfway around the world for that matter. I'll follow you."

"You can't do that, Jacob. You have your dad and the pack…I can't let you do that…This might sound blunt, but wouldn't it be better if you didn't follow me…it would be easier for you…"

Jacob froze. I was expecting him to be hurt by this, but his face was now blank. I was worried I had just ruined our friendship.

"Jake?"

"I don't know, Bells. Apparently I'm fighting a losing battle here," I couldn't say anything that wouldn't hurt him, so I just shrugged, "It wouldn't be easy to forget you Bells. Pretty much impossible, actually, but I don't know, maybe, with lots of time…and space, I could learn to love you less…things could always change."

"I'm not going to leave Edward, Jake."

"That's not what I'm saying, Bella."

"What then?"

"Werewolves…fall in love differently than normal people…"

"Ok, Jake, could you be a little more cryptic," I elbowed him gently in the ribs, trying to get a smile out of him.

"No, really. Werewolves have _imprinting_. It's like, when we see what I guess you could call our soul mates for the very first time, it's like she's the only thing in the world for us; our only reason to be alive…it might even be similar to what you feel for _him_…I don't know…"

I understood what he was talking about, but it only made me feel worse, "Have you _imprinted_?" I didn't like thinking that he was completely alone in the world without me, but at the same time, I didn't know what I would do if he has already imprinted on me…I was most definitely taken, permanently.

"No," he replied sadly, now studying his shoes.

"Well that's good, isn't it? I mean, there's still someone out there for you…who isn't your natural enemy…you just have to find her…?"

Jake laughed, "Bella, you could never be my enemy."

"Vampire," I gestured to myself, "werewolf," I gestured to him, "that's not exactly the best combination."

"I guess not," he laughed, "But I'm not even sure if there is someone for me other than you. Imprinting doesn't always happen…I suppose it's a nice concept, but it's hard to be patient, you know?"

I nodded in agreement.

We were silent for a while as we continued walking through the trees.

Several minutes later, Jake and I decided to go our separate ways…at least for today. We had decided on arranging one last meeting before Edward, his family and I left. It would be hard, but I didn't want to have to say my final goodbye to him today.

I was making my way back to the Cullen's house to meet up with Edward, Alice and Emmett so we could go hunting when I came across an unfamiliar scent. My curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to follow it. I followed it until I wasn't very far from mine and Edward's meadow where the scent stopped.

"Hello?" I called into the forest. I felt silly talking to what seemed like thin air, but someone was nearby.


	10. Chapter 10

"_Hello?" I called into the forest. I felt silly talking to what seemed like thin air, but someone was nearby._

No one responded and then I realized it was too quiet. There were even fewer animals around me than usual. There was definitely someone nearby.

"Hello, is anyone there?"

Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the leaves above me causing me to look up just as I saw a flash of what appeared to be fire. It was somehow familiar to me, but not in a good way.

I took off at full speed towards home. I wasn't surprised to find Edward waiting for me at the edge of the property, "What's going on, Edward? Who is it?" I panicked as he wrapped me in his arms making sure I was alright.

"The red-head who was with James the day of the baseball game. Her name is Victoria. She's here," he explained.

"Here? As in _here _here?"

Edward held me tightly in his arms. Words failed him, so he just nodded, "Let's get inside," he said after a lifetime of silence. He was apparently surveying the area to see if he could hear her thoughts.

I followed Edward inside and straight into the dining room.

"Alice," Edward began, taking a seat, I was too tense to sit down, "what's going on?" All eyes were on Alice. Apparently she had told everyone else about Victoria's brief appearance before I had gotten back.

"I…I don't know…she hasn't decided anything concrete yet, so I can't be sure."

"Well, what is she doing _now_?" I didn't like the tone in Edward's voice. I squeezed his hand to calm him down, but I only felt him relax slightly.

"She's running somewhere, but I can't be sure where until she decides where she's going. I think she knows I can see her decisions somehow."

Edward growled loudly, "Edward. Getting mad at Alice isn't going to help anything," I said sternly, forcing to look at me.

His eyes were full of anger, anxiety, and concern.

"Bella," he said, looking back at me, "clearly she's trying to get to you. She might even be trying to kill you. I have to do something…to protect you."

Now I was the one growling, "No. Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, you are not going to go after her, do you hear me? I can't have you chasing after her in order to protect me. I can take care of myself now," my voice was beginning to soften as I spoke, "I need you here," I was whispering now, "with me…" I closed my eyes and rested my head against his shoulder. We sat like that for a while, motionless. I was acutely aware of my entire family watching our moment, but, right now, given the circumstances, I was sure everyone in this room could understand my sentiments, so I didn't give it much thought.

Edward's voice brought me back to reality, "Bella, it's ok. I'm here," in response, I nodded against his shoulder to let him know I heard him.

Finally, Alice's voice broke the tension in the air, "I think we should just act normally…until she appears again," For some reason I liked this idea. It might have been avoidance, but I didn't care; I didn't want to face this right now. I was days away from saying goodbye to everyone in my human life for good. As far as I was concerned, I needed to focus all my energy on that and how I was going to cope.

"Good idea, Alice," I said, my voice weak. I didn't look up at her or the rest of my family, though. Edward seemed to sense my need for his comfort and began rubbing soothing circles on my back.

Apparently, the family meeting was over. I actually didn't realize this until Edward whispered in my ear that we should head upstairs for a while.

"What about hunting with Alice and Emmett?"

"It's not a problem, Bella, they realize that this is yet another adjustment for you…for all of us…they understand," I looked at him skeptically, "besides, they've already left. We can go later today if you need to hunt…?"

"No, I'm fine for a few more days at least. We can go together before we leave," I suggested. Edward nodded and took my hand.

We walked silently up to his room and he closed the door behind him as I headed over to the bed.

Edward sighed heavily and situated himself next to me. I cuddled up to him immediately.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"I don't like this," he said. He was being cryptic again…typical.

"You don't like what?" I was suddenly irrationally terrified of what he could mean by that statement.

"I don't like that this _Victoria _creature appears to be after you."

I sighed, "Edward, don't worry about that, please? Alice will see when she decides to come back and we'll get her then," I felt him tense again as I mentioned that _we _would get her as opposed as _he_ would or someone else in the family would…basically anyone else who wasn't me.

"How can I not worry? I love you, Bella and it would kill me if anything ever happened to you, especially now. I know it's almost impossible for you to get hurt, but vampires _can_ die and I don't want to take that chance with you. In case you don't remember, you were a bit of a danger magnet when you were a human," I rolled my eyes at him.

"Haven't we had this conversation before, Edward? I'm not going anywhere and you're going to have to accept that. I love you, too…much more than you can even hope to imagine and it would kill me to lose _you_. We're equals now and I'm just as much involved in this hunt for Victoria as you are. Please, promise me you won't worry so much and stop treating me like I'm still human…?"

Edward laughed softly and pulled me back against the pillows so I was on top of him, "When did you become so diplomatic?" he asked, staring at my lips.

"Since I've had to deal with so much of it from you," I winked at him.

"Not as much as I love you," he laughed and proceeded to kiss me.

We continued kissing and talking and cuddling for much of the day and I was surprised to find that when we finally decided to reemerge downstairs, the sun was just setting. It had been a long day. Much of it had been wonderful, but there was the fact that some nomad vampire, Victoria was after me and somehow she was connected to James…Great…

Later that night, I had decided it would be more productive to walk around the house and the property rather than sit in Edward's room curled up in a ball waiting for something to happen. It sounded better in theory though, because now I had resorted to nervous pacing around the kitchen instead.

"Bella," Alice's ever-cheerful voice interrupted my reflections on the day's events, "we should go shopping tomorrow. It'll be the first time you experience it as a vampire!"

I needed to sit down for this one, so I took a seat at the kitchen island, "Alice," I groaned, rubbing my temples as though I had a headache, which would have definitely been the case were I still human, "I'm sure it's the exact same kind of torture as it was when I was human."

"Don't be silly Bella! We need to get you dressed like a Cullen," I didn't miss the tone of smugness in her voice. Damn her.

"You're forgetting that I'm not technically a Cullen," I scoffed. I instantly regretted my words when I saw Edward enter the kitchen with Jasper and Emmett. He didn't allow his hurt to cross his face, but I noticed that he faltered ever-so-slightly and it broke my heart. I didn't have long to dwell on that because a certain annoying pixie grabbed my arm and whisked me off to her room muttering something about _not yet you're not_. I didn't even want to ask about what that meant.

The next morning, Alice was dragging me out of the house and towards Carlisle's car by 8:30am, "Alice, we're going to get to Port Angeles in about five minutes. Why do we have to leave so early?" I was grumpy because my time with Edward had been cut short.

"Silly, Bella. Who said we were going to Port Angeles?"

I looked at her, confused, "Then where _are_ we going?"

She gave me a smug smile, "LA."

"We're going to _Los Angeles_!" I shrieked as we turned out of the Cullen's driveway and onto the main highway, "Alice that will take the _whole day_!"

She was still laughing at me when I felt my new cell phone vibrate in my pocket. I had a text from Edward; _Sorry, love. I tried to stop her. I love you._

I replied immediately: _You knew about this? You could have tried harder._

I was still fuming when my phone vibrated again: _Afterwards, you can run home and I'll meet you somewhere…it should be dark by then._ I sighed; I couldn't stay mad at him forever. It wasn't his fault, obviously, and I knew he had tried. I texted him back again quickly telling him I'd meet him somewhere after we were done shopping…hopefully it wouldn't be too long.

"Bella," I heard Alice's voice calling to me. We were zipping along the highway at breakneck speeds, I was no longer bothered by the Cullens' insane driving, in fact, I even drove like that now…with the little driving I'd done since I've been a vampire.

"What?"

"I was asking you where you wanted to start our shopping spree."

I rolled my eyes and smiled at her, "Does it really matter?"

She giggled, "No, I guess not."


	11. Chapter 11

"_I was asking you where you wanted to start our shopping spree."_

_I rolled my eyes and smiled at her, "Does it really matter?"_

_She giggled, "No, I guess not."_

We had been shopping for most of the day. It had only taken us a few hours to get to Los Angeles; luckily it was pretty cloudy there. The sun had only just set, so, now that we were done shopping for hopefully a lifetime, Alice and I were walking around the city enjoying the warm night air before we headed back.

"Well I think that was a very successful outing," Alice commented. I was walking slightly behind her, so she couldn't see me rolling my eyes.

"Define successful, Alice," I joked. Alice turned around at that and smiled at me.

Neither one of us felt the need for much more conversation, so we continued to lug our mountains of shopping bags back to where Alice had parked her Porsche in a parking garage. I was secretly surprised that it hadn't been stolen. It wasn't that it didn't blend in more than it did at home, but it was definitely still one of the nicer cars in the garage.

Once we were finished loading up the car, we decided to walk around a bit more and enjoy ourselves.

"Alice, what did you mean this morning?" I asked now that I had time to think about something other than the shopping trip.

"What do you mean?"

"When you said I wasn't a Cullen _yet_…" this time, it clicked.

"Oh. You heard that?" I laughed and rolled my eyes. She knew perfectly well that I heard her. She joined in my laughter for a second or two and then sobered up a bit, "You know we've all considered you a Cullen since the first time Edward brought you home to meet us," I knew that, but I still wasn't technically a Cullen.

"I'm not _technically_ a Cullen Alice," I was surprised by the slight defensive edge to my voice. I hadn't meant to be defensive. Maybe I still felt guilty about Edward overhearing me say the same thing this morning. I hadn't meant for him to hear it, let alone interpret it as me not wanting to be a Cullen…technically…On the car ride down here, I had come to the conclusion that I was still deluding myself into thinking that he was still going to leave me for something better.

"Bella, I didn't say anything earlier," Alice interrupted my thoughts, "but I know you feel bad about Edward hearing you say that this morning. I also know that you still think he's going to leave you and I've got news for you; you're crazy to still be thinking that and he's _never_ going to leave you. Trust me, I've seen it."

"I know, but I still think I'm not good enough for him. I mean, he's perfect…It's still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that we're equals now…I know it's hard for him, too, but I've just been average my entire life, and now, suddenly, I'm not…" I looked at Alice as we sat down on a park bench, "Can you just explain what you meant this morning?" I knew she wasn't going to, but it was worth a shot.

"Edward is going to text you soon anyways. You should get going." I saw that one coming.

"You're not getting out of this that easily, Alice…" I couldn't finish my thought, though, because my phone vibrated in my pocket. I threw Alice a glare while I was walking away from her. She was headed back to her Porsche and I was headed in the opposite direction.

When I was in a dark enough area, I pulled my phone out to read the text from Edward, _Where should we meet?_

_How about Reno?_ I responded. It was about halfway and I had never been there before, not that I had any ideas of what Edward and I might do there in the middle of the night.

My phone vibrated with his reply; _Ok. See you in a few hours. I love you._

I responded with a quick 'I love you too' and then sprinted off to the north. I didn't know how exactly to get there, but I figured if I stayed close enough to the roads and highways, I could follow the signs. It couldn't be that hard to navigate in the middle of the night either…

I was correct in assuming that it would easy enough to run to Reno in the middle of the night. I was finally getting good at this whole vampire thing. Once I got into the city limits, I texted Edward, _Where are you?_

Almost instantly I got a response; _Truckee River. Head there and then I'll find you…_

It only took me a few minutes until I was near the river. I decided to use my vampire abilities again to try to sniff him out, so I closed my eyes and inhaled.

The second I was able to get a whiff of my surroundings, I realized that tracking Edward through his scent was a very, very bad idea. I had been around people all day and had been fine, but that was when I had Alice with me to distract me, but now, I was all by myself. I wasn't in a secluded area, so naturally, my nose was bombarded by the scents of human blood. I guessed most of them were asleep, but there were still a few clearly drunk people wandering around nearby.

Before I knew it, I had subconsciously begun trailing one of those scents instead Edward's. I knew in my heart of hearts that I shouldn't be doing this, but I was thirsty and the opportunity had presented itself. There was no turning back now.

I now had my target in my sight. He was walking along the river; I was about a hundred yards behind. I still knew I had to be careful of witnesses; I couldn't just jump him in plain sight. The man had dirty blonde hair, he was about six feet tall and he smelled delicious.

I was closing in now, only about twenty-five yards away when something grabbed me by the arm and began pulling me into the alleyway between the buildings. There was no way I was going to give up easily, so I hissed at whoever it was who was trying to attack me, struggling, but not very hard; silly human. I laughed to myself at the irony of the situation.

This person thinks I'm the one who is about to become a victim. Boy did this guy have it wrong. I figured it would be a fair trade; I'd let the blonde go and take this other guy. I thought it appropriate given the situation that I didn't try to look at my attacker; I wanted him to think he was going to win.

Seconds later, the pair of us was in the alley and my original prey was gone. I wasn't too upset. This other guy smelled _so _much better; intoxicating.

I decided I'd put up enough of a fight for me to finally turn around and get a glimpse of my attacker. I'd been flailing and whimpering and struggling long enough. Again, I was laughing internally; I vaguely remembered Edward telling me when I was human that I was a lousy actress. If only he could see me now.

As soon as I'd stopped struggling, I felt my attacker's arms wrap around me. Suddenly I couldn't move. This person was actually pretty strong for a human. I decided to play along. I did what I thought any fragile human girl would do and froze as a defensive tactic and opened my mouth to try to scream. Upon doing so, I got another good whiff of this person's scent. It took everything I had not to turn around that instant and drain this poor guy dry. I wanted to play with my food a bit more.

Then reality crashed down on me. It all made sense now and my world was very nearly shattered by this revelation.

The intoxicating scent of this stranger who was 'attacking' me was Edward's.


End file.
